More disruption due to sewage pipe repair

ENGINEERS from Thames Water have returned to Henley Market Place to repair an underground sewage pipe.

They arrived on Tuesday and cordoned off a large area with protective barriers between The Square restaurant and the phone box.

The one-way road that runs along Market Place will remain closed during the work, which is scheduled to end by January 23. A diversion is in place.

A Thames Water spokesman apologised to drivers and residents for the
inconvenience.

In June the company identified a blockage under the square, which caused the basement of Blanchards Law to flood with 3ft of raw sewage twice in six weeks.

A tanker was stationed on the square to help manage the waste flows while repairs were carried out further up the line in Bell Street.

Now engineers are back to fix the pipe in the square.

Thames Water has been criticised by the town clerk Sheridan Jacklin-Edward for causing disruption.

He wrote to the company requesting that greater care was taken of communities affected by work and asked why there had been so much work this year.

He said: “These road closures have led to increased congestion, pollution and disruption to local businesses, residents and pedestrians.

“The town council would like to understand what measures there are in place to inform communities of repairs and whether there are plans to improve these in the future.”

Thames Water apologised, saying it aimed to carry out repair and emergency work as safely and quickly as possible while minimising disruption.

It said: “We work hard to maintain high standards and are sorry when this isn’t the case. To better inform our customers we’ve launched a new online interactive map where people can view work going on in their area, including details of traffic and roadwork updates.

“We are committed to improving our network for our customers. Over the next two years we will invest around £1.12billion to upgrade different sites.”