AN important, though unclassified, rural borough link road is likely to remain closed for at least another day while Anglian Water engineers continue to repair a broken sewer main.

Walton's Hall Road between Stanford-le-Hope and Linford has been closed since the middle of last week when the problem with a sewer close to the Walton Hall Farm residential home and small shops complex was discovered.

Anglian Water says: "As part of our repair work, we've got tankers on the way to the area to keep the sewer flowing by pumping wastewater away ready to take to our nearby treatment works.

"We know tankers are large and noisy, and we're sorry for any disruption they're causing while they're in use. They'll be off as soon as we've been able to get everything back to normal.

"So we can keep our teams safe while they're using the tankers, we've had to close Walton's Hall Road. We'll get the road fully reopened as soon as we can. Until then motorists need to make use of the clearly signed diversion."

One of the tankers pictured moving at night on the Maple Park residential estate.

There have been some muted concerns on social media about the impact of tankers on local residential areas and at times they have parked on the Maple Park estate, awaiting a call to the site of the sewer breach.

The water company has been unable to give a date for reopening of the road but workers on site said they hoped it would be within a few days at most. And a post on social media gives an expectation of completion by tomorrow (15 September).

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Though Walton's Hall Road is designated as a minor road, it links the communities of Stanford and Linford & East Tilbury and is a registered bus route (including for children attending St Clere's Secondary School).

The Walton's Hall Farm site, which includes shops, a bar, restaurant, B&B residences and static homes, can only be currently reached via Butts Lane from Stanford-le-Hope. The routed diversion is by Buckingham Hill Road.