Burst water main set to keep Sheffield road closed for another week

Hemsworth Road, in Norton Lees, has been closed to traffic since Tuesday this week as Yorkshire Water attempts to fix the broken pipe.

The utility firm had hoped to complete the work by yesterday, but complications mean it is now likely to be closed all next week.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said yesterday: "Due to hazardous cables running where work needed to take place, fixing a burst pipe on Hemsworth Road has unfortunately taken longer than expected.

"Due to health and safety reasons we had to close the road on Tuesday. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and it is likely that the road will reopen tomorrow (Friday).

"Work will have to resume next week due to the size of the burst. The road will have to be closed again for a week, before reopening with traffic lights in place.”

One resident said the leak was reported around a month ago and cones and signs had been in place since then.

Richard Bramhall believes repairs should have begun sooner and could have been coordinated to coincide with half term last week to minimise disruption.

"This is the main route between Norton and Gleadless to Meersbrook and Mundella School, " he said.

"The closure will affect all parents taking children to school on the bus and in cars from those areas This is very poor planning and will cause major disruption."

Yorkshire Water said repairs could not begin earlier as there had been a delay in obtaining a permit to carry out the work.

"We have to wait for the council to issue the permits. Sometimes delays happen that are out of our control unfortunately," the firm added.