An East Yorkshire couple have been left fuming after having to travel 11 miles to get into town just 300 yards away.
Drew Pearce and Katie Wilcox live right next to Pocklington town centre. Whether it's for work, groceries, seeing family or nipping to the pub, they've got quite used to the apparent luxury of being able to walk five minutes and be where they need to be.
Alas, things have taken a turn for the worse recently. Now, because of roadworks, they have to make an 11-mile roundtrip, racking up time and thousands in extra petrol costs just to get down the road.
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The roadworks are set to last for two-and-a-half months, making improvements to the road and building a footpath for a housing development on the land opposite.
According to Drew, this is amounting to a further £1,200 in fuel, particularly sore given the cost of living crisis gripping the UK.
Drew said: "What should be just going up the lane is now more than a 10-mile round trip.
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"What's really got my goat is that it was only published in the local paper on 30 March – the road was closed on 4 April. We only found out we wouldn't have access because we happened to see that. We were never officially informed about it."
It's not just the couple who've been affected by the roadworks, with other residents complaining they weren't adequately notified about the plans, and have now been cut off from their town centre.
Drew continued: "One of my neighbours has just recovered from cancer so they can't just walk into town.
"The developers have told people to walk through the woods instead. But that's just not realistic for people who are disabled or just don't want to walk through dark woods after hours. Given that we're so close to town it's a huge irritation."
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Denise Slights, who owns nearby holiday homes, also said: "I understand what they're doing and why, but they could have paid more sympathy to the people who live here.
"It's not just a back lane, it's home for many people and it's really affected the residents here."
A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said the roadworks were part of the planning permission for the footpath.
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He said: "A road closure was necessary at this site because the road was too narrow to allow for temporary traffic lights to be used and traffic to pass in order for motorists and the workforce to stay safe, according to our regulations.
“Access for pedestrians and other non-motorised traffic is being maintained but keeping the road open for vehicular traffic wasn’t possible and therefore putting a diversion in place wasn’t considered undue in light of the need to keep people safe. This was agreed by the developer and the council.”
Topics: UK News
Cameron Frew