Improvement work to begin soon in Whitwell

Island Roads staff will be visiting Whitwell to meet residents and businesses ahead of a major resurfacing scheme planned for the village next month.

The company is scheduled to undertake the resurfacing of the High Street and Ventnor Road between approximately 600 metres south of Kemming Road to Southford Lane in a 13-day scheme beginning on June 8.

Island Roads staff have already met local businesses and elected members and will return again with the mobile visitor on May 23 at the White Horse car park between noon and 2pm.

The scheme will be a mixture of day and night works and work has been split into sections to reduce disruption to local businesses and residents. Day work is required in some sections for several reasons, not least because some of the section is very close to residential properties and also because some of the highway is too narrow for the required large vehicles to operate safely outside of daylight hours.

The hours of daytime working will be between 6.30am and 6pm and night working will be between 7.30pm and 6am.

Residents and businesses have received letters explaining the work and giving details of the phasing. Information boards will also be placed out ahead of the work while updates on progress will also appear on Twitter @Islandroads

Keith Gourlay, Island Roads constructions manager, said: “Though we are phasing work and working at night where possible, we do know that work will have an impact on the community and we will be taking our mobile visitor centre to the village to explain more about the work and to answer questions residents and businesses may have.

“We would like to thank the community for their understanding so far and we will continue to keep them informed as work progresses. Everyone in the village knows the work needs to be done and we hope that having a greatly improved road surface will outweigh any short-term inconvenience.”