Hole lot of bother as work goes on

People in a suburb of Wolverhampton are fed up with dodging holes.

Roadworks have become a part of life in Castlecroft – and when one hole is filled a fresh bunch of workers turn up to dig another. Purple plastic barriers, yellow pipes and temporary traffic lights have become a part of the street furniture. Work to replace gas pipes, promised to be completed within 12 weeks, has dragged on since last May, it is claimed.

Fed up residents in Windmill Lane say there is still no end in sight to the misery which has blighted their lives.

The current and longest running work is being carried out by National Grid to replace more than a mile of worn-out pipes, but residents and traders say the diggers keep going back and ripping up roads in the same places.

It follows Wolverhampton City Council’s own £400,000 road improvement scheme which saw Castlecroft Road pulled up in February for resurfacing.

Castlecroft and Tettenhall have faced huge tailbacks in recent weeks, some stretching back as far as The Mermaid pub, because of four other sets of roadworks in the surrounding areas in Wightwick Bank, Whitmore Reans and Aldersley Road.

Roadworks have been a regular feature of life in Castlecroft since 2005 when Severn Trent Water took six months to complete a £2.5 million sewer pipe scheme, which should have been finished in three.

Residents say National Grid has offered no official updates since a letter last May promising work would be over within three months. The company today said the letter would have referred to only one section of ongoing and long-term works.

Kath and Len Brown said they have to drive around barriers when they get home from work just to get into their house in Windmill Lane. Tenancy support officer Mrs Brown, aged 49, said: “The works outside seem to have been there forever.

“I have had to leave the car with the traffic backed up behind it while I move the barrier to get on to the drive. It’s been an absolute nightmare.”

Telecommunications consultant David Duroe, aged 40, said: “Temporary traffic lights keep going up and coming down but they don’t seem to be making any progress.”

Mike Williams, the 57-year-old landlord of The Firs pub, said: “No-one can drive around without running into a set of temporary lights somewhere in Castlecroft.”

Councillor Joan Stevenson, who represents the area, said: “It does seem at times like there’s a plan to cut Tettenhall and its neighbours off from the rest of Wolverhampton. Everyone accepts the need for these works but no-one can understand why it seems so impossible to co-ordinate the work to minimises disruption.”

National Grid spokeswoman Carol Lloyd said: “This is a 2.6km job to replace cast iron pipes with polyetheline ones that, if undisturbed, will last for 80 years. It was always going to take a long time. We apologise to residents who have been affected but are working closely with the local authority to manage traffic as effectively as possible.”