Ongoing roadworks take toll on residents

Residents have spoken of their frustration at putting up with months of roadworks.

People on part of Boundary Road, Newark, have endured road closures, queueing traffic, lorries and loud machinery.

Severn Trent have been working on the stretch between Victoria Street and Albert Street/Hawton Road since February as part of a £60m overhaul of Newark’s waste and water network.

The project will see more than 400 homes and businesses protected from sewer flooding, as well as future-proof water supplies, when it is completed in 2020.

When work started, the Victoria Street end of Boundary Road was closed. As work progressed parts of the road were still shut until about a month ago.

Boundary Road has since reopened and a temporary four-way control has been put in place of the Boundary Road/Albert Street/Hawton Road roundabout.

But resident Mrs Karen Doyle said: “It has made it even worse for us to get our cars out of and in our driveways.

“I always have to stop the traffic behind me to pull out.”

Mrs Doyle criticised a lack of information from Severn Trent and Via, which manages roads on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council.

“We have just been left to put up with it,” she said.

Mrs Doyle said during the road closure she could not drive along Boundary Road for three months and had to use Victoria Street, Clinton Street and Albert Street to get to work or take her daughter, Amber, to school.

During the roadworks, a motorist performing a U-turn reversed into the side of Mrs Doyle’s Ford Mondeo.

It damaged two side panels and tore off a wing mirror.

Mrs Doyle said the loud noise of the machinery, traffic outside her house and loud car stereos meant she could not watch TV or live in peace.

'Lorries coming through constantly'

Mr Angus Hooten, who has lived on Boundary Road for about two years, said he felt as though Severn Trent and Via had gone out of their way to inconvenience him and his neighbours.

“When they are promising on their leaflets to work with residents, they are not at all,” he said.

“We have lorries coming through constantly, morning and night.”

Fellow resident Sara Ansley said: “They said they would keep us all informed but it has been, at most, 48 hours notice before they have done something drastic like closing the road.

“It is the lack of communication more than anything — I don’t feel like they care.”

Sara said she struggled to get her car out on to the road because of the constant stream of traffic queueing at the temporary lights.

“I have to hope that someone nice stops and lets me out,” she said.

One morning she was waiting for 25 minutes.

Another resident, who did not want to be named, said the temporary lights were initially blocking her garage.

She had to ask for them to be moved, which they were.

“In certain situations I can’t see the traffic lights, which is frustrating when you are trying to leave the property,” she said.

'Level of disruption is unavoidable'

A spokesman for Via said: “A level of disruption is unavoidable with works of this nature.

“We have worked closely with Severn Trent Water to implement and monitor traffic management measures during the major works on Boundary Road and elsewhere in Newark to try to keep any inconvenience to both local residents and road users to a minimum.”

A spokesman for Severn Trent Water said: “We are trying to carry out the work with as little disruption as possible as we are very aware that our schemes can inconvenience our customers in the short-term, while leading to long-term gains, which is why we have held a number of drop-in sessions highlighting our plans and have also written to customers, explaining our plans and providing updates on progress.

“For the duration of the work we did on Boundary Road, we used acoustic barriers and modern machinery to help minimise noise.

“We worked closely with the highways authority to set up and review traffic diversions and employed a traffic marshal to stop non-residents using the road to park their cars to minimise traffic.

“We have taken the opportunity to support the local community in the Boundary Road area by donating a greenhouse to Holy Trinity Catholic Academy and installing a drop kerb to allow better access to Holy Trinity Church, school and community centre.

“We would like to thank people for their patience and assure them we are working hard to get the work completed with as little disruption as possible.”