Stafford roadwork chaos on A513 for second time
Drivers are set for summer holiday misery as a popular route is closed for more than a month.
The A513 in Stafford, linking Milford to Weeping Cross, will be shut between the junctions of Brocton Road and Hillcroft Avenue for three weeks, while the stretch of road from Hillcroft Avenue to Weeping Cross Island will be closed for more than two weeks.
Severn Trent Water, which has caused chaos on Stafford's roads for nearly two years, is carrying out work to improve the road as it says the surface is not 'as good as it could be'.
The closures, which will be in place from July 24 until the start of September, are also set to hit businesses hard.
Shugborough, the Barley Mow pub and fast-food chain Wimpy are all set to be affected, along with a number of local businesses along the A513.
One of them, Highfield Equestrian, has said it is 'livid' at the closures.
Vicki Highfield, the firm's owner, said: "We are livid to put it as politely as possible.
"This is twice now the road has been closed. The last time in 2015 was very detrimental to our turnover because obviously no one could get to us.
"It is frustrating, they have had the road dug up once so why couldn't they have done all the work then? They must have known the surface needed work.
"We have not been told the exact details yet but last time people had a six-mile diversion to get to us. If that is the same again then our business will suffer greatly. We are not happy at all."
Severn Trent has apologised for any disruption but said it had planned the work carefully to make sure any problems were minimised.
Gareth Mead, from Severn Trent, said: "We know that the road surface it isn’t as good as it could be and that’s why we’re going to replace it to make sure it’ll be more durable and require fewer repairs in the future.
“We’ve planned the work closely with the local council to take place during the summer holidays when there are fewer motorists on the road and we’ll work as quickly as possible to get everything finished.
"We’ll need to close the road during this work to make sure the surface can be replaced to a high standard.
“While the Weeping Cross section of the road is completed, Cadent will be carrying out some gas work of their own under our road closure to save them having to close the road separately in the future.
“We’ll keep everyone updated on the progress of our work and we’re confident everything will be complete by the end of the summer holidays.
“We’d like to apologise for any disruption this causes.”
