CHURCH ROAD TO BE CLOSED FOR FOUR WEEKS
PART OF Church Road – from Anerley Hill to Westow Street – is to be closed to through traffic for four weeks from late July while Thames Water tackles a leak in a 10 inch diameter clear water pipe.
The West Norwood-based Norwood Action Group is already warning motorists and passengers of ‘utter chaos’ and advising people to re-plan journeys.
“The works will require the closure of Church Road at this point, access to Church Road will be maintained through revocation of the existing one way system in that part affected and allow access from the Westow Street end using diversion signs.
“The wider impact of these works will be as follows:
Diversion Route 1 – traffic heading NW up Anerley Hill.
Crystal Palace Parade, College Road, Dulwich Wood Park, Gipsy Road, Salters Hill, Central Hill, Hermitage Road & Beulah Hill.
Traffic management requirements:
Two way traffic lights to be used at the railway bridge in Salters Hill, manually controlled at peak times.
Traffic calming / pinch point in Salters Hill near to Central Hill to be reversed to allow priority for traffic coming from Central Hill. This will be assessed and if it deemed necessary then the build-out will need removing to allow two way traffic.
Diversion route 2 – Traffic heading south down Crystal Palace Parade or heading east along Westow Hill.
Anerley Hill, Anerley Road, Croydon Road, Penge Road, High Street, South Norwood Hill.
Advanced signs will be in use two weeks prior to the works starting at strategic locations, the memo adds.
A Thames Water spokeswoman told News From Crystal Palace: “We’ve detected a leak on a 10 inch diameter clean water pipe which needs to be fixed as if left, could eventually lead to low water pressure in the area or customers having no water at all.
“If the pipe bursts it could also cause localised flooding and damage to the road itself. “There’s also the obvious reason of leaking pipes being a waste of water.
“It’s a complex job as we want to repair the pipe without having an impact on customers’ water supply so it will involve a lot of work to manage flows and pressures in our network of pipes which serve the local and wider area.
“We also have to be very careful of other pipes and cables which are underground alongside the leaking pipe as we wouldn’t want to damage any of them.
“The team responsible for the job will be working hard to try and finish the job early if they can. “This time period has been chosen to fit in with school holidays when traffic is generally lighter.”
A letter will be going out to local businesses, she added.
In an email circular Norwood Action Group say: “Expect utter chaos, so think about alternative routes if you drive or even bus in that area.”
