WATER company Essex and Suffolk Water has played down the impact of a series of burst pipes in Stanford-le-Hope over recent days.

Residents have taken to social media to highlight the problems, which were recognised by the company.

Today (Friday, 8 December) a spokesperson for the company said: "A pipe burst in Cornwell Crescent yesterday afternoon which we repaired without any impact to customers' water supplies.

"To keep noise to a minimum, repairs to the road were planned for the following day and we left the site. However, late last night the pipe burst again.

"The crew were on site within an hour and a second repair was completed quickly.

"We're aware we've had a number of bursts within the area this week, which can occasionally happen as a knock-on effect from changing pressures within the pipes while rerouting the network to minimise disruption for our customers during a repair.

"Our teams are still working on repairs to a leak in Abbotts Drive and we are managing the surrounding network to ensure any interruptions to customer supply in the area are minimised.

"Currently none of our customers have been affected and we'd like to thank our customers for their patience while our teams get things back to normal."

A temporary traffic regulation order permitting the closure of Cornwell Crescent has been published today by Thurrock Council.