"You've messed up this town and I've never known anything like it". Those were the words of one angry resident during a meeting to discus roadworks in Bridgwater.

Hundreds of angry residents packed into North Petherton’s Community Centre to hear officials explain their plans to upgrade a busy motorway junction.

The majority of residents wanted to know why the works on the A38 were taking so long, causing major delays, but officials would only talk about junction 24 of the M5 as that was the topic of the talk, said Somerset County Councillor David Fothergill, the cabinet member for highways.

What the vast majority wanted to hear were the reasons why the current roadworks on the A38 have taken so long and continue to cause major delays, but questions over the A38 work would not be answered by the officials they were told as they were invited to only talk about junction 24 of the M5, said Somerset County Councillor David Fothergill, the cabinet member for highways.

Cllr Fothergill chaired the meeting, that was introduced by the mayor Cllr Alan Bradford.

Following a series of presentations about the proposed works to J24, the agenda for the audience had already been set by what many saw as bad planning and the execution of work on the A38.

One member of the audience said the county council had “lost the confidence of the residents” over the way they had tackled the work on the A38. The time taken on building the cycle path was the main grievance.

The first question was “would the contractors be working day and night” on J24 to speed things up?

The answer was no, due to health and safety concerns and costs, which led to roars of disapproval from the residents who shouted out at the panel of officials that many construction projects have night and shift work.

“You’ve messed this town up and I’ve never known anything like it,” shouted one member of the audience which led to applause and shouts of “here, here”.

Others shouted out: “Sort something out Mr Fothergill. You’ve messed up the A38. Admit it – you are wrong.”

The work, which will include lights at the roundabout, box junctions, four lanes from the M5 to the roundabout, the removal of the laybys to make space and reduction in the size of the current roundabout, will start after the work on the A38 ends, lasting until the end of May next year.

Although there were concerns about the layout in general it was the way the work would be carried out that caused most anger, with some claiming authorities had used the safety of workers as an excuse for delays.

One recurring issue was the current and expected future tailbacks which left motorists in queues on the M5 waiting to leave the motorway. This was described by one man as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Further questions were raised about parking in Campion Way, more homes being built, the chaos caused by the poor layout of the service station which added to the problem, and whether there was simply too much traffic both now and in the future.

To diffuse some of the more difficult questions Cllr Fothergill said individual complaints could be dealt with on a one-to-one basis in separate meetings, with the council website giving more information.

The meeting broke up after the question and answer sessions with the residents leaving feeling very disgruntled. Outside in the streets many spoke of their disgust at the attitude of the officials who failed to understand the situation and there was a general feeling of dissatisfaction.

n Did you attend the meeting? What do you think about the planned work on the roundabout? Send your views to harry.

mottram@nqsw.co.uk.