AN EIGHT-MONTH road closure will now be closer to a year, after the council confirmed it will be extended into the summer.
The A449 Wells Road near British Camp was due to reopen in April but Worcestershire County Council has announced it will likely remain closed until at least mid-July
It comes after a landslip meant that the closure, initially put in place for repairs to a retaining wall, had to be extended.
‘Six to eight weeks’
“Following engineering assessment, detailed Ground Investigation (GI) is set to start in early June and is expected to last up to six to eight weeks,” a council spokesperson said.
“The road closure has been extended to reflect this and will continue to be reviewed.
“Once the ground investigation is complete and the results analysed by our engineering advisors, we will be in a better position to decide further actions.
“We will continue to share key updates for this scheme on our dedicated webpage.”
READ MORE: Pothole claims on unofficial diversion road spike after A449 closure imposed
CONCERNS: Councillor Malcolm Victory said he is concerned about the ongoing impact of the A449 closure (Image: Submitted)
Councillor Malcolm Victory, who represents Malvern Chase on the county council, said the authority had shown a “relaxed” approach to reopening the road, despite his complaints.
“Despite my frequent complaints to Highways over the relaxed approach to the repair and the urgency of completing it, no improvement on the delivery dates for the required investigation and resulting design have been provided,” he said.
“Having seen the extent of the damage to the road substrate I think that Highways are sugaring the pill with this release, rather than fixing the problem.”
‘Totally excessive’
Giles Goodhew, landlord of The Wellington Inn on the A449 between Malvern and Ledbury believes he has already lost business from local customers and is worried that summer tourists may also be deterred from visiting.
“The problem here is the eight-month closure was totally excessive in the first place,” he said.
“I have probably lost quite a lot of business from people who live in Malvern Wells.
EXCESSIVE: Giles Goodhew, landlord of The Wellington Inn on the A449, said the closure was already too long (Image: Giles Goodhew)
“I rely on a very loyal customer base but there’s also tourists who come to the area over the summer.”
The announcement comes after it was revealed that pothole claims made to Herefordshire Council about nearby Jubilee Drive, which many are using as an unofficial diversion, had jumped by six times since the closure came into force.
The authority said the road was included in this year’s resurfacing programme but it has previously said it would wait until the A449 had reopened.
