Highway chiefs and contractors have been pulling out all the stops to cure problems in Evercreech's Rodmore Road following an oil spill there three weeks ago.

The problems were caused when a hydraulic pipe on a refuse collection lorry belonging to the Somerset Waste Partnership broke while it was on its collection round in the road and hundreds of gallons of oil spilled into the road, causing messy, slippery problems for residents and road-users.

At last Wednesday's parish council meeting chairman Andrew Doble said he and fellow councillors had a site meeting with highway officers to discuss "The Rodmore Road catastrophe." He said he sympathised with the residents and agreed the initial attempts to clean up the spill had not been very good.

And Councillor Sheila Davis had been inundated with a lot of calls from concerned residents.

Councillor Doble said the latest solution on Monday last week with another spreading of special dust by Somerset County Council was "looking good" and it was hoped it would solve the problem.

But district councillor Rob Reed said he had several calls that day from residents who were complaining there was still oil in front of many houses. "Not everyone is happy," he warned.

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said warning signs had been put out on the road as soon as possible and the Somerset Waste Partnership had responded to the incident very quickly by putting fibre on to the road surface to absorb the oil spillage. The Partnership had contacted the county council, as the highway authority and the council had added more fibre to the spillage. Further action had been taken by putting dust on the surface.

The road had been swept again and its condition was being monitored.

"The county council will be liaising with the SWP regarding recovery of any costs incurred," said the spokesman.