THOUSANDS of pounds of taxpayers money will be used to pay for repairs to a road which is only five years old.

THOUSANDS of pounds of taxpayers' money will be used to pay for repairs to a road which is only five years old.

Bransby Way, which is the main road into Weston Village and Locking Castle from the M5 motorway, was built by Locking Castle Consortium.

The road became the responsibility of North Somerset Council four years ago, after the authority adopted it from the developer.

However, the road has fallen into disrepair due to a fault and the council, which adopted the road four years ago, is now footing a £15,000 repair bill.

A spokesman said: "It has been adopted by us therefore it is our responsibility to repair it.

"It is not a design fault. It is a problem that developed after we adopted the road."

However, the decision to use taxpayers money to correct the fault has been criticised by Locking Castle councillor, Chris Howell.

He said: "We all want to be proud of the town we live in. With new developments being built making our town larger each year, the people moving to these new homes have a right to a certain quality of life. Bransby Way hardly fills me with confidence that this quality of lifestyle is being achieved.

"Here we have a housing development that is under 10 years old and the condition of the road and pavements are completely unacceptable, especially as the average life span of a road should be 20 years before re-surfacing is needed."

"If there is a technical fault with this type of road design then why hasn't the developer who constructed the roads been asked to fund part or all of the cost of repairing them, instead of burdening the council taxpayer with the bill.