‘The village is cut off’: Traffic chaos expected to continue into weekend as road remains closed

Traffic chaos in West Lynn is expected to continue over the weekend due to a burst water main in the area.A portion of Clenchwarton Road has been closed since Wednesday afternoon, forcing drivers to divert out and along the A17 in order to get between West Lynn and the town centre.Anglian Water has been in touch with its local teams, and has been informed that they have faced some “technical difficulties” during the repair works of the burst main.

Teams are on site now, not far from the Pullover roundabout, and are looking to downgrade the road closure to a two-way traffic light system this weekend while the rest of the reinstatement continues.An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the disruption to road users on Clenchwarton Road in Lynn as we are continuing to repair a burst main in the area.“The repair has proved more complicated than we first anticipated, however our teams are on site today and will downgrade the closure to two-way traffic once the repair is completed so the road can be reinstated.”

Cllr Alex Kemp, who represents West Lynn on West Norfolk Council, says the work has left the area “cut off” from the rest of the town.She wrote to Anglian Water urging them to try and reopen the road before the weekend, saying: “This means a six-mile round trip, on the Hardwick interchange, to reach Lynn, but many residents are not confident to drive on the fast A17 via Clenchwarton to get to it.“The village is cut off and isolated.“I am in consternation that it is said that it could take six days for Anglian Water to re- open the road.”

Meanwhile, Karen Champion, the press officer for the recently-formed West Lynn Action Group, says she used the ferry to town to see how much extra support it is getting during the road closure.

She was told by the ferry operator that there was double the usual number of passengers on Wednesday afternoon and evening, while some people said they got to work early by using it.