LONG-SUFFERING households in Ash Road will have to wait longer before life returns to normal as night repair work starts for a week.

From Monday, February 4 road crews will start at 9pm, working through the night until 6am.

The night work will run from the roundabout with the A331 to the traffic lights at North Lane, with a lane closure. While this stretch is largely occupied by businesses, including three car dealerships, residents of a block of eight flats – Clyde Court – will be faced with noisy nights.

A spokesman for South East Water, the company running the water mains repair work, said they hope to be finished by the end of the week but it depends on road conditions.

She said letters had been sent last week to inform neighbours of the unusual working hours.

Cllr Keith Dibble, who represents the North Town ward, said he was disappointed that more notice had not been given.

“If your sleep patterns are disturbed it can have a huge impact on your quality of life,” he said. “For a week, people are going to struggle to get any sleep.”

The repair work was originally scheduled to continue until March and is being completed ahead of the original 29-week timetable.

However, James Smith, delivery manager for South East Water, had previously said he expected the £249,000 project to finish at the end of January, two months ahead of schedule.

The latest news has come as a blow to people nearby, who have had to put up with nearly five months of diversions and lane closures.

Peter King, owner of the Ash Road Service Centre, said the work had started to affect business. “It has been a help, having the one-way system because we have been getting some trade back,” he said. “Before, they had signs up but it was confusing for customers.

“It’s not affected it dramatically, but it’s had a bit of a bearing on it.”

He said they were hoping it finished ‘sooner rather than later’ and that he was glad he did not live nearby. All 840m of water pipes have now been laid, and the final week of work will connect the new mains to the existing network.

Mr Smith said: “Firstly I want to thank those living around Ash Road for their ongoing patience and co-operation.

“We’re pleased to be putting the new main into service but the connection needs to be made in the middle of the slip road leading to North Lane. We are therefore working at nights to minimise disruption to busy daytime traffic.”

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