Road re-opens at site of delayed flood prevention roadworks in Kirton

Station Road, previously shut to allow the flood prevention works to take place, re-opened earlier this week.

Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) says traffic can now flow through the village between Station Road and the High Street.

As reported by Lincolnshire World in July, the works were delayed by three months, with several businesses saying the road closure was having a ‘devastating’ impact on their trade.

A spokesperson for LCC said: “Work began in April on the flood alleviation scheme which will see a new, wider drainage pipe installed under Kirton’s High Street. This follows a history of incidents of surface-water flooding in the village in recent years. Now, to reduce the disruption the work is causing to residents and businesses, a section of Station Road has been reopened under temporary traffic lights.

“To allow traffic to flow safely through the reopened section, the five parking bays on Station Road (North) have been temporarily suspended, and the one-way system has been temporarily revoked.”

High Street remains closed between the King Street/London Road junction, and the junction with Station Road (North). The parking spaces are still available on Station Road (West) whilst drainage works continue.

Matthew Harrison, LCC’s flood and water manager, said: “I completely appreciate that the works involved in this project have had a real impact on residents and businesses in Kirton. Due to the complexities of the scheme, and ongoing challenges with unchartered services, it has taken us longer than expected. This is why we’ve worked hard to reduce the disruption and reopen sections of the road gradually, to allow traffic to flow more normally.

“We will continue to do that as the scheme progresses and look to reopen more of the road in the coming weeks.

“Recent flooding events elsewhere in the county have highlighted the importance of drainage schemes like this one in protecting communities from the impacts of surface-water flooding. I’d like to thank the people of Kirton for bearing with us whilst we complete this essential work to increase drainage capacity in the area.”

The project team plan to reopen another section of the road towards mid-September, further reducing the impact on local people. The project is expected to be fully complete in a few more weeks.