The story below was published on Saturday. In fairness to Thurrock Council and in the interests of balance it is important that Thurrock Nub News now states that the closure of Buckingham Hill Road and the closure on Horndon was flagged up at least once last Friday afternoon.

Nub News reader Colin Wheatley has this morning (Sunday, 17 May) sent us a copy of an email traffic notice he received which does mention it. We are trying to find out how many people this was sent to and why the information is not shown on other council messages, including their web page and their Twitter feed.

As yet, the council has not responded to our requests for information sent yesterday. We have now asked about the distribution list of this email and asked again why the information is not posted on their other information sites.

And subsequent to this update, Thurrock Council has responded further and shown it did put out material relating to the closure of Buckingham Hill Road. However, this was not across all its social media postings and, and mentioned in this story and indicated via screenshots the information was not communicated in 'live' information being fed out at the same time as people were asking 'why is the road shut'.

Nevertheless, it would be remiss of Thurrock Nub News not to point out this may not have been the complete 'cock-up' we first believed it to be. But overall the jury remains out on it!

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IN what appears to be yet another Thurrock Council Orsett Cock-up, residents and motorists have been left wondering why the authority has shut a major borough link road for the weekend.

The council had flagged up in advance that as part of its A13 road widening project there would be a closure of the A13 at the Orsett Cock roundabout from last night (Friday, 15 may) to Monday morning – but a simple 'up and over' diversion would be put in place.

However, for the weekend, someone has made the decision to shut Buckingham Hill Road – the main link road from the A1013 which runs parallel to the A13. This road has been closed previously when a weekend A13 closure has meant the road being shut from the Orsett Cock roundabout to the Manorway Roundabout. The closure stops the village of Linford and Chadwell St Mary becoming part of a busy 'rat run'.

No mention of closure on regular sites

But this weekend's work did not appear to be on that scale – and no-one was expecting Buckingham Hill Road to be closed. Not even all departments of the council, it appears, as little mention of the closure has been flagged up in the pre-publicity or mentioned in social media posting, including Twitter, which have still been going out today. A notice was sent out on one subcription email channel, it appears. Maps have been provided, but explicitly not for a Buckingham Hill Road closure this weekend.

Residents in Horndon on the Hill have had to put up with extra traffic as a consequence of the diversion strategy. Cars that would otherwise travel along the A13 are being routed through the village by diversion signs - even though there is no need as the A13 is open!

Thurrock Nub News editor Neil Speight visited the junction - which he has nicknamed the Jinx Junction after a series of roadworks and delays there – not least the ongoing saga of the installation of traffic lights which is now more than a year in the making (see link below).

His video broadcast shows traffic running freely on the A13.

He also spoke to workers sat in their vehicles at the junction, who are set to be there all weekend. One told him he didn't know why the road was closed – though another said it was on the instructions of Highways England! He was somewhat surprised to learn the project is managed by Thurrock Council.

The driver of the largest vehicle said he was there in case vehicle recovery was needed – though normally the recovery station is in a compound adjacent to the A13 on the a1013 just past the London Road junction. He didn't know why he was at Buckingham Hill Road.

Residents in Linford and East Tilbury have also questioned the location of the road signage at the south end of Buckingham Hill Road, outside the George and Dragon pub. It makes no mention of the fact that there is an access to Stanford-le-Hope via Walton Hall Road, possibly forcing drivers to make a lengthy and unnecessary diversion via Chadwell St Mary.

And interestingly, as contractors remove the weekend road blockage signs on Monday, they could 'clash' with other workers putting up signage to cope with the reopening of Linford Tip and the fact that Buckingham Hill Road will be one way for the duration.

"One hopes the left hand knows what the right hand is doing," commented Mr Speight.

There is also a significant amount of confusion in signage around the Stanford-le-Hope area, encapsulated by our picture from the Manorway roundabout which show diversion signs going in opposite directions right next to each other, Motorists have to guess - on a very busy piece of road - which road they have to turn into. And on the A1013 close to London Road there are two signs with contrasting messages too.

From Monday though, although signing is not yet in place, the council has temporarily suspended the weight limit on walton Hall Farm Road and Butts Lane. Traffic will also not be able to travel southbound down Butts lane - which will be a one way road from its junction with Buckingham Hill Road and St Andrews roundabout in Stanford-le-Hope.

The full details of the council's changes are detailed in a Traffic Management Order which can be seen here.

The situation is not helped by emergency gas works which have seen Church Hill in the centre of Stanford closed and lots of signage related to that.

Meanwhile, the council's decision to effectively turn Butts Lane in Stanford-le-Hope into a 'one-way' bypass in combination with the one-way system to be implemented on Buckingham Hill Road to allow Linford tip to open may also be problematic. Officers may well have looked at a map and thought it is a good way to get heavy goods vehicles from point A to point B - but they appear to have forgotten that the road has a 7.5 ton limit!

Thurrock Council and responsible councillors have been asked to comment.

Troubled junction works overrun.

No resolution in sight for junction lights issue as council deny responsibility