RESIDENTS and motorists are furious at the prospects of two months of long detours due to roadworks.

Work is due to take place in Alphamstone Road, which links the villages of Alphamstone and Lamarsh.

Residents of the villages are angry over the decision to close the road for almost two months.

The road is due to be shut for 55 days from last Friday while work is carried out repairing a drainage system.

Residents of the two villages are being diverted along Colne Road and Pebmarsh Road until the road reopens in March.

Critics say the diversion is five times longer than the usual route and takes five times as long to complete.

One resident said: “It’s a great inconvenience.

“How do they expect people to cope, especially the postman, the papers and the milkman?

“I can’t believe the diversion. It’s ridiculous – it sends you all the way to Pebmarsh and the road isn’t going to open again for two months.

“I rang up and they said it’s something to do with drainage. We were told that residents would have a letter but they never did.”

An Essex Highways spokesman, said: “This work is being carried out to greatly reduce the flooding which has happened along Lamarsh Road and Alphamstone Road.

“The drains here are part of a larger system and it is important that we fully explore this to understand exactly what is there, and what is and isn’t working underground before we can start to improve it.

“Initial work requires us to jet through the drains and then investigate the use of CCTV to find any blockages or broken pipes.

“We will also drill trial holes to explore the line of the pipes and pits.

“Following this, we plan to install additional gullies and potentially concrete-line some of the pipes to avoid a wholesale digging up of the road and complete replacement, which would be a major scheme and involve keeping the narrow road closed for longer.

“As the letters that went to all residents explained, we hope to enable access for residents when our machines are not working in the road and we hope to open the road after work has finished each evening.”