SOMERSET Council has announced public drop-in dates for the M5 junction 26 refurbishment scheme.

The council’s contractor, Heidelberg Materials, is refurbishing junction 26 of the M5 along with the A38 Chelston link road near Wellington, with work set to begin on June 16 and expected to finish in late September.

Due to the depth of the excavations required, junction 26 and the A38 link road (from junction 26 to Foxmoor Business Park) will be completely closed for the duration of the works.

The window and timescale has been agreed with National Highways and is dictated by forthcoming M5 works, alongside the need to allow National Highways to access its gritting depot off the Chelston Link Road during winter.

Public drop-in events are taking place in West Buckland and Wellington where people can meet the project team and ask questions.

These events are:

Wednesday, May 14, 4-7pm at West Buckland Village Hall, TA21 9NA

Thursday, May 15, 3.30-7pm at Wellington Football Club, TA21 8LY

Wednesday, May 21, 3.30-7pm at Wellington Football Club, TA21 8LY

Somerset Council’s lead member for transport and waste services, Councillor Richard Wilkins said: “We know people will have questions and concerns they need to raise so we’d encourage anyone to please come and see us at one of the drop-ins if you can.

“We have had some useful feedback already and this is the very start of our engagement with the community and businesses.

“There has been a lot of positive feedback about getting this very important scheme done, but we understand this will be disruptive and we will be working closely with local businesses, community leaders and residents to ensure this is minimised as much as possible.”

There is an FAQs section and further details on the project here: Major refurbishment of Junction 26 and Chelston Link road