Explanation for Bath Road barriers in place for months

The council has given an update on roadworks marked with barriers on the A4 Bath Road – which have been in place for months.

Neighbours on Nextdoor noted that it had been announced that the damage on this stretch next to the Tesco Express was ‘going to be fixed’ by the end of May, so these safety barriers could be removed.

Onlookers asked why, a month-and-a-half later, this problem showed no sign of being fixed.

Cllr Simon Bond (Lib Dem, Belmont), who had announced this originally, said he was told there ‘needed to be further investigation’ in case the problem is caused by a water leak.

In May he ‘understood the work was going to proceed’ but since learned there were deeper problems delaying it.

On June 13, work to line the highway drainage pipe was completed, allowing the rest of the line to be surveyed.

A CCTV survey of the highway drainage in the area showed ‘significant cracks and breaks’ in the pipework, preventing the CCTV survey from reaching the point of the sinkhole.

“Due to the depth of the pipe (three metres) this was passed to the Project Centre, our design contractors, to design a solution,” Cllr Bond said.

A council spokesperson added: “Work to line the highway drainage pipe has been undertaken at this location in recent months by both the utility provider, South East Water, and the council on the sections for which the parties are responsible.

“A subsequent survey found a collapsed section of pipework in need of repair for which the council is responsible.

“Due to the depth of the pipe, this has been passed to the council’s design contractor to come up with a solution. Work will begin as soon as practically possible.

“The barriers which are in place are not blocking the road, and it remains passable to traffic travelling in both directions.

“However, these are in place around the area which has the pipe breaks underneath and are for the safety of road users.

“We’d like to thank them for their patience and understanding while we work to come up with a solution to have this pipework fixed.”