Villagers voice concerns over B1112 Eriswell Road five-week closure in Lakenheath
Villagers have voiced their concerns over the five-week closure of a key road in Lakenheath.
A section of the B1112 Eriswell Road closed on Thursday as Anglian Water engineers started work on a water main renewal scheme.
The road will be closed until August 30, however residents are frustrated by the 31-day closure and the 11-mile diversion route.
Jill Lerner, of Lakenheath, said: “It is the main road in Lakenheath so no one can get in or out, including pedestrians.
“The diversion route is 11 miles, or you have to use a very small dangerous road which hardly has enough room for two cars to pass in a lot of places.
“The road has been closed since Thursday even though the actual works have been delayed until now – how is that fair? I called Anglian Water to find out why it had been deferred and I was told they were waiting on a part.
“It’s just ridiculous – surely they can’t get away with this?”
An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “Our teams are currently laying 650m of water pipes in Lakenheath – which will prevent leaks and interruptions to customers’ water supply.
“We’re using efficient engineering techniques, such as directional drilling, which means we don’t have to dig the road up, helping minimise how long the work takes.
“In order to keep our engineers and other road users safe while we work, we have closed the B1112 Eriswell Road, with a fully signposted diversion in place.
“We appreciate this will cause some inconvenience for local residents, so we’d like to thank them for bearing with us while we carry out this important upgrade to their local water network.”
The official diversion route follows the B1112, A134 and A1065 - Suffolk Highways said Wangford Road and Undley Road were not part of the route.
The council's Network Assurance team has requested ‘unsuitable diversion route’ signs for Wangford Road, however this is not enforceable and Suffolk Highways can only advise the official route.
Estelle Raeper, another Lakenheath resident, said: “We have a cost of living crisis going on. People cannot afford to do 11 extra miles to get in and out of the village.
“The other roads in the area are just not safe. Last time they closed we went through Undley and my vehicle got damaged.
“We all need to earn a living and closing a main road in and out of a village is just ridiculous.
“Not to mention emergency services cannot get through also, so if there is a fire or an accident there is no quick route. By the time any service gets through, people could be dead.”