Fury as works inflicting 4 miles diversions are prolonged by TWO MONTHS
Despairing villagers have been left physically ‘sick’ after being told road works which caused four miles of diversions will be extended by two months.
Residents living in and off Flawforth Lane in the Nottinghamshire village of Ruddington say they feel trapped in their homes and are not receiving their wine deliveries while the improvements are made on the junction with the A60.
A four-mile diversion which encompasses the A52 and notoriously hectic Nottingham Knight and Wheatcroft roundabouts mean the 0.7-mile drive to the centre of the village is no longer an option.
The two-month works were scheduled to be completed over the weekend, Saturday 21st September and Sunday 22nd September, but have now been extended to 16th November, with neighbours claiming they were given little-to-no notice.
Benchmark Property, which is working with Newline Civils on the improvements, said it was doing its best to speed up the process.
Roadworks in Flawforth Lane, Ruddington, Nottinghamshire making residents feel trapped
Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire County Council, branded responsible by some locals for the disruption, declined to comment when approached.
Gwen Eyre, who lives with her husband and two young boys in Flawforth Avenue, went so far as to say one of her sons had been physically sick following the news and that she feels ‘trapped in my own house’.
Mrs Eyre, a 47-year-old charity worker, added: ‘It’s had a big affect on me. It’s made me feel really anxious.
‘My son has been sick and struggles to walk to school and Beavers.
‘Nottingham Knight roundabout at 8.30am fills me with anxiety.
‘My elderly parents live in Loughborough and don’t want to drive to us because it adds so much stress to the journey.’
The despairing mother said the current work was the latest in 15 months of on-and-off disruption.
She added: ‘Everybody agrees they need doing, we’ve campaigned for a pedestrian crossing for years, but we’re not told anything.
‘It’s been 15 months of roadworks. We think “when will this end?”.
‘It changes your whole life. I feel like we’re not part of the village, we may as well join Edwalton as far as I’m concerned.’
Angela Hogarth, a pensioner aged 71 who lives across the road, said she was ‘fed up’ and felt as though ‘we don’t exist’.
She said: ‘It’s beyond a joke but we don’t know what else we can do. It’s not too bad to walk into the village but it is if you’re lesser able.’
Mrs Hogarth said she was also having ‘tremendous problems’ with receiving deliveries.
‘People can’t come, it took me three times to get my bird feed and my wine delivery couldn’t get in.
‘I have to ring up to explain, people don’t realise there’s another way in.
‘We’ve put up with it for so long. I’ve lived here for 35 years and I’ve never experienced anything like this,’ she said.
Angela Hogarth, 71, said she was also having ‘tremendous problems’ with deliveries
Nancy Fisk also said she is having problems with deliveries but blamed the council rather than the workers
Next-door neighbour Nancy Fisk added her husband Dean had also been unable to get deliveries for his plumbing business for months.
‘If you order anything from anywhere other than Amazon, who are determined, they say sorry you can’t order.
‘My husband’s not had plumbing parts delivered for months it’s been closed for so long, he’s had to collect,’ she said.
Mrs Fisk said the workers were now ‘so entrenched it’s like they’re part of the fixtures and fittings’.
She added: ‘I’m surprised they don’t have a disco on Saturday nights.
‘The workers are so polite, it’s not their fault, it’s the council.
‘They think we’re moaning but it affects getting to places like Loughborough and the M1 too, it’s access to a myriad of places.
‘It seems like a middle-aged, middle-class problem I suppose compared to what’s going on in the world.
‘We asked if we could come to a compromise. We just want to know if we can come up with a plan b or c.’
A spokesman for Benchmark Property said: ‘The junction itself has four arms and traffic must be allowed to flow as freely as possible through all arms at all times – ironically, if we were allowed to close the junction off completely (and just get on with it) then it could be done in a matter of weeks but sadly and obviously that wasn’t and isn’t a possibility.
‘The team are doing their best now to bring the civil [engineering] work through and working with Nottinghamshire County Council we hope to get the carriageway surfacing done in larger areas and to speed up the process.’
