'Traffic chaos' to continue over sewage repairs

Motorists are facing more than a week of traffic disruption as a collapsed sewer is repaired in a Kent city.

Temporary traffic lights have been installed on the A28 at Wincheap since Southern Water began work on Monday, with local side roads also closed.

Connie Nolan, who represents Canterbury City South on Kent County Council, said that the disruptions had caused "absolute chaos".

Southern Water said: "We apologise for the inconvenience to residents and commuters and thank them for their patience and understanding."

The traffic lights are expected to remain in place until 29 May.

Nolan said it was the fourth collapsed sewer in Canterbury, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"I was coming back from the coast, and I was caught in traffic from the top of St Thomas' Hill," she said.

"The whole of St Dunstan's was crawling. London Road roundabout and Pin Hill were completely clogged."

She urged the company to be "transparent" about the reasons for the collapse and if its maintenance schedule "needed to be improved".

"It's been an unacceptable inconvenience to local people travelling to work or taking children to school for their exams," Nolan added.

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