A key West Somerset coast road will remain shut for the foreseeable future until a project to stop it falling into the sea can be agreed.

Somerset County Council closed the B3191 Cleeve Hill in Watchet on January 12 after heavy rainfall accelerated the ongoing erosion along this stretch of the west Somerset coast.

This decision came only a week after Somerset West and Taunton Council refused plans for 136 homes on the edge of Watchet, which would have seen the road moved significantly.

The district council has now reiterated its desire to secure the road’s long-term future – but that it will remain closed until a project with the Environment Agency (EA) has been agreed.

Traders in Watchet have been told the road council remain closed for up to 18 months, and have raised concerns about the effect on trade in the town which has already seen a big fall since the closure.

The B3191 connects Watchet to Blue Anchor and provides a diversionary route from the A39, a key route for holidaymakers travelling from M5 to the Exmoor National Park and the Butlin’s holiday camp in Minehead.

The road will be closed until at least May 31, according to the county council’s Travel Somerset roadworks portal – but this could be extended depending upon how long it takes for a scheme to be agreed and funded.

A significant stretch of the England Coast Path was previously diverted inland in August 2022 to protect walkers from cliff collapses.

A 2020 study for the county council by WSP identifies a number of schemes which would maintain either all or part of the road between Watchet and Blue Anchor – including a new bypass through the former Wansborough paper mill site (where 350 new homes are planned), linking the road up with the B3190 Washford Hill, or building a “tidal lagoon” across Watchet harbour with the new road running on top.

District councillor Andrew Sully, portfolio holder for environmental services, provided an update when the full council met in Taunton on Tuesday evening (February 7).

He said in his written report: “There continues to be movement of the cliffs to the west of Watchet.

“The allotment site belonging to Watchet Town Council has been closed due to land slippage, and this area continues to erode through wave action and through the inherent instability of the ground which is worsened through heavy rainfall.

The cliffs in this area will continue to erode, and the county council has provided warning signs on the West Street slipway.

“Ultimately we will work with the new council and the EA to consider a project to realign the B3191 in the area, and at the same time to protect the cliffs.”

The district council has been working to protect the other end of the B3191, at Blue Anchor, following emergency repairs to the existing sea walls which were carried out in late-2020.

Following delays caused by a lack of available ships, Mr Sully confirmed that rock armour to protect the cliffs and the nearby road would begin arriving in the spring, allowing the £3.8m project to get under way and be finished by the summer.

He said in his report: “I am pleased to report that vessels have now been definitively secured to deliver the required rock armour from Glensanda Quarry in western Scotland

“It is proposed that 13,500 tonnes of rock will be delivered in late-April/ early-May 2023, transported by sea-going vessels to Blue Anchor and transferred at sea to a barge to land the rock on the beach.

“The rock will then be placed against the cliffs to prevent wave undercutting.”