Yahoo News ‘It’s stopping traffic into York’: anger as huge hole causes disruption in village
A huge hole dug in a York village to repair a burst water main stopped people from travelling into the city centre and caused major disruption to the area's bus network, residents claim.
One New Earswick resident told The Press the roadworks in Hawthorne Terrace, near the roundabout for Link Road, appeared on Saturday (June 29) to the surprise of locals.
Yorkshire Water, the firm behind the work, said the roadworks were cleared on Tuesday (July 2).
Martina Weitsch, who has lived in New Earswick since 2017, said residents faced an “eight-minute detour” when driving into York city centre due to the diversions.
Martina Weitsch (Image: Supplied)
She said these diversions also impacted First Bus’ number one service and Connexions’ number 13 service, claiming residents were unaware of changes to the routes.
“It’s stopping traffic into York,” the retired 71-year-old said at the time, adding: “We also don’t know where the bus stops would be.
“First Bus and Connexions are not doing their jobs in terms of keeping people informed.
“It’s just the way it’s being handled that I’m unhappy about.”
First York, on Saturday, posted a message on its social media channels saying New Earswick would not be served by the number one route.
The burst water main in Hawthorne Terrace, New Earswick (Image: Supplied)
Diversions were in place via Huntington Road, the post said, with passengers advised to board from the Sleepers Path stop.
On Tuesday the firm posted another message on social media saying the route would return to normal the following day.
“We posted a message on Saturday [June 29] to customers on our social media informing them of the diversion and bus stop change,” a First spokesperson told The Press ahead of the road reopening. “As soon as we have confirmation of the time and date the road is to reopen we will update customers, including details on our website.”
Work was 'totally unannounced', says bus firm boss
Connexions’ managing director Craig Temple told The Press the work in New Earswick was “totally unannounced” with the firm only finding out about it when drivers saw a road closed sign.
The bus company is part of the York Quality Bus Partnership, an organisation working to encourage use of public transport.
But Mr Temple said the “excessive amount” of road works in the area – many of which are unannounced, he claimed – have “serious effects on the reliability of bus services” which is “gravely concerning” to operators involved in the group.
“Many don't give us the chance to notify customers, and some leave customers without a bus, and it seems to worsen year on year,” he explained. “We try to work with councils wherever we can. But roadworks now seem to entail total closures whereas a few years ago, buses were let through so as to avoid causing undue problems to those who rely on the services.
Read next:
York goes to the polls, with Labour poised to take power in Westminster
New government must act on York ‘housing crisis’, says industry boss
“This one at New Earswick is a case in point – totally unannounced – and the first thing we knew about it was a bus trying to find a way around a road closed sign.
“Many times the contractors don't actually do what they promise, meaning that we can tell customers one thing and the contractors then do something totally different.
“It's certainly something councils and contractors overall need to improve on before they have too much of a long-term adverse effect on the viability of bus services.”
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “To allow the work to be carried out safely, closures and traffic management were required and agreed with the local authority.
“Due to the importance of the route our teams worked hard to complete the work and reopen the road as soon as it was safe to do so.”
