Date published: 2025-10-01 | Category: Delivering for local residents, Roads, travel and transport, roadworks
Round-the-clock emergency repairs to resurface a section of the A37 near Pensford following an extensive fuel oil spill have been praised.
Bath & North East Somerset Council highways teams worked into the night to get the road resurfaced and reopened on Saturday, just two days after a large oil spill.
A significant oil spill on 25 September affected approximately 800m of the A37 between Pensford and Chelwood roundabout.
Officers from the council’s highways teams, police and the fire service attended the scene, and the road had to be closed with diversions put in place. Urgent resurfacing works were required before the road could be reopened.
Oil on a road surface presents a significant safety risk to users as it creates slippery conditions as well as weakening the structural integrity of the surface and its materials.
Councillor Lucy Hodge, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Transport Delivery, said: “This was a really impressive emergency response from our highways teams, and I’d like to thank them and all the contractors that came together so quickly and worked into the night to get the road resurfaced and reopened just two days after a large oil spill.”
More than 6,000m² of highway was resurfaced, an area equivalent in size to 23 tennis courts, and the A37 was reopened on 27 September.
The council will seek to recover the cost of these urgent repair works from the company responsible for the spill.
ENDS