March 15, 2021 12.47 pm This story is over 37 months old

Frustration as gas pipe delays Skegness Roman Bank works beyond Easter

Council unaware until the road was dug up
A look at the progress of works at Roman Bank, Skegness. | Photo: Lincolnshire County Council
By Local Democracy Reporter

Improvement works at Roman Bank in Skegness have been delayed beyond Easter after it was found that a gas pipe needs diverting.

The busy road in the seaside town of Skegness had first closed in August 2020 to replace the worn out carriageway on Roman Bank, as well as improving footpaths and drainage.

A full road closure was put in place between the junction with Burgh Road/Castleton Boulevard and just past the junction with Elmhirst Avenue, around 550m of road.

Work is continuing on major improvements to Skegness’ Roman Bank. | Photo: LCC

This was expected to take around eight months to complete, and alternating one-way road closures were introduced by Lincolnshire County Council on Monday, March 8.

Now, work will have to be pushed back as a result of an unexpected gas pipe diversion that needs to take place.

The diversion route will remain via the A52 / C541 / A158 at the Gunby dual carriageway, and vice versa.

Roman Bank in Skegness. Photo: Lincolnshire County Council

Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways, was frustrated at finding out about the gas pipe without being told by Cadent Gas.

He said: “Despite originally telling us that their gas pipe did not need to be diverted whilst we were planning the project just a few months ago, Cadent Gas have now notified us that they will need to move their Roman Bank pipe – putting back the completion date of the whole scheme.

“There are always unknowns when carrying out major road works like these, but contradicting information from utility companies makes it almost impossible to plan effectively.

“We’re currently considering a number of options for the rest of the project, each with a different completion date.

“But we want to finish the rest of our works as quickly as we can, with as little disruption as possible for the people and businesses of Skegness.”

Cllr Davies continued: “Had we known this main needed to be diverted when we originally spoke to Cadent Gas during the planning stage, these could have been factored in to the scheme of works.

“The issue with them coming to us now is that the road here is already dug up, so it’s too late to do anything else except wait for their works to finish so we can finish rebuilding the road.