Garage annoyed as Spalding road’s defects only part-fixed

Spalding’s Pinchbeck Road has reopened to motorists after an emergency closure to repair dips in the road – but the biggest of them remains.

A section of the road outside Taylors Vauxhall is still cordoned off with barriers, whilst dips further up the road have been filled in by Lincolnshire County Council.
Anglian Water has carried out a further sewer survey in the area and is working with the county council to work out what the problem is.

Tim Taylor, managing director of Taylors, said: “The road has been closed for repairs which was supposed to be an emergency. The emergency is here but this isn’t being repaired. Those bumps were minimal, this is a ruddy great hole.”

He says the business was hit last week whilst the road was closed, with no passing trade and customers avoiding the area due to queues caused by the diversion.
The road reopened on Friday (May 12) following closure at the beginning of the week.

The same spot has sunk regularly in recent years. Mr Taylor said it has been a problem since Anglian Water replaced a pumping station on his firm’s frontage in 2009.

Around 18 months ago, Anglian Water reinforced part of Taylors’ frontage as it too had repeatedly sunk since 2009, but the reinforcements were only extended to the boundary of the highway, which is the responsibility of the county council.

Mr Taylor said: “What really gets me is that these departments can’t communicate between themselves.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We have completed a CCTV survey of the sewer which runs along the road. The survey report will be assessed and reviewed as soon as possible.”

In March, Anglian Water said a similar survey had shown the sewer was working correctly.

A highways spokesperson said: “We’re now awaiting the findings of Anglian Water’s investigations.”