DIFFERENCE in agreement on responsibility and a lack of effective communication between Anglian Water and Thurrock Council are being blamed by residents in North Stifford and Ockendon for delays and continued disruption relating to a broken sewer.

The problem arose last week when Anglian Water responded to the broken sewer which is adjacent to the A13 and Pilgrims Lane. They are using tankers to pump and take away sewage – but work has not yet started on repairs.

A decision was taken by Thurrock Council to authorise closure of Pilgrims Lane, with a signed diversion via Aveley – however, a large number of cars, some buses and HGVs have been using Stifford Hill and North Stifford High Road.

Residents in the village are concerned about the significant increase in traffic and potential damage to historic buildings, including St Mary the Virgin Church. They have called on Thurrock Council to do more to mitigate the problem.

A council statement says: "We understand that it is frustrating for residents that are dealing with increased traffic volumes as a result of the emergency works being carried out by Anglian Water.

Pilgrims Lane remains completely closed becasue workers have been abused, says councillor.

"The issue is being caused by motorists who are ignoring the planned diversion and finding their own short-cut. We will speak with the contractors and ask them to improve signage to encourage drivers to better follow the planned diversion.

"It is important to note that the works in Pilgrims Lane are emergency roadworks being carried out by Anglian Water to make repairs to a sewer. Thurrock Council has no powers to prevent them from taking place.

"The decisions about the works on the A13 are made by National Highways and not Thurrock Council as these works are in a section of the road that they control."

However, villagers say the full road closure has been implemented in haste and there is no reason that Pilgrims Lane needs to be completely closed – suggesting a traffic-light monitored one way system would ease traffic elsewhere.

Tankers parked on either side of Pilgrims Lane as they await being called up to load pumped sewage.

North Stifford ward councillor Vikki Hartstean says the decision to close the whole road will remain in force and the problem has been caused by drivers and pedestrians being abuse to workers on site.

She has told residents: "As shared with me by council officers, when there were temporary lights in place, at the start of the works, motorists were verbally abusive to the workers and behaving dangerously in the vicinity, including throwing signage over the bridge onto the A13.

"Their risk assessment concluded that full closure of the road was the only way to protect workforce and members of the public. They also need to work from the A13 so will be undertaking lane closures at the end of this week."

However, Thurrock Nub News visited the site today (Wednesday, 10 December) and spoke to engineers working on site. We were told that they saw no reason why a managed contraflow traffic system could not be in place – and they literally laughed off the anecdote about abuse.

Pumping continues from the broken sewer

It was also confirmed that all that is happening at the moment is that sewage is being pumped from the breach adjacent to the A13, with pipes dropped from the bridge on Pilgrims Lane. Only one lane of the road is required for that to happen.

When the fault originally occurred, residents were told the inconvenience would only take a couple of days of work.

However, it appears that negotiations between Thurrock Council - the local highways authority - and National Highways – which manages the A13 - and Anglian Water have become protracted with the two highways authorities debating how the works be managed.

A spokesperson for the council's highways team said: "Anglian Water can close roads in emergencies because the law prioritises safety and essential services. We monitor and enforce standards, but we cannot override those emergency powers otherwise we are liable for any failures.

"We are talking to them daily and challenging them and please be assured they are feeling the pressure of the team to get this resolved asap. It just highlights the fragility of our network. As covered above an update will be issued later and I am sorry about the disruption."

Hopes from residents that CCTV cameras might be put in place quickly to help curtail diversion guidance breaches, particularly by larger vehicles have been dashed, with the council saying: "Regarding enforcement cameras on Stifford High Road, installation is still programmed for February or March."

However, they may still come into play if the works are delayed further – which seems likely as engineers told Nub News today that they expected work to go on into the new year.

A spokesperson for local residents said: "It's all very unsatisfactory with mixed messages coming from the different authorities involved and not a lot of clarity about what is going to be done – or what could be done to speed up this process.

"It seems pretty clear that not everything is being done, as quickly as possible to remedy the situation. Which is disappointing given the amount of inconvenience this is causing."