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14
Oct
Yorkshire Water gives update on Kirkby Malzeard roads reopening
Yorkshire Water has given an update on roadworks in Kirkby Malzeard, which have caused weeks of disruption in the village.
Church Street has been closed since September 28 to allow Yorkshire Water to carry out work on a burst water main.
Main Street, just round the corner from Church Street, has been closed since late August.
The two closures have caused carnage around the village, according to residents, as reported earlier this month by the Stray Ferret.
A diversion is in place to access the village, which requires drivers to go either via Grewelthorpe or Laverton, but village residents Oliver and Sharon Hirst have told the Stray Ferret people had started taking matters into their own hands.
They said people were driving the wrong way down Back Lane, a one-way street that runs parallel with Main Street, to avoid the relatively short diversion.
The couple added:
People are just driving the wrong way down a one-way road. There’s a sign part-way down it to tell people it’s one-way, but it’s just too late by the time you see it.
It also narrows to nothing. It's chaos.
They were not the only ones to raise concerns about the closures, as one social media user claimed a motorist "drove into my dog" whilst driving the wrong way down Back Lane. Another said they had a "stand-off" with a driver who also tried to drive the wrong way down the one-way road.
The Stray Ferret contacted Yorkshire Water to ask for an update on both sets of work. Church Street was originally set to reopen on Friday (October 18), while work on Main Street was due to complete in December.
However, a spokesperson today said one road will reopen ahead of schedule:
Our team have been working on site following a burst on the water main on Church Street and have been completing the repair as quickly as possible.
The road, which has been closed for the safety of our team and of pedestrians, will reopen tomorrow morning, ahead of schedule.
The news comes after Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Masham and Fountains on North Yorkshire Council, last week called a public meeting on the road closures.
The meeting, which will still go ahead tomorrow evening, is to give people and businesses the opportunity to share the impact the work has had on them.
Cllr Cunliffe-Lister today told the Stray Ferret:
The meeting is still going ahead. I'm still chasing for an update from Yorkshire Water and highways, but it will give people the chance to say a) the impact the works have had on the village, and b) how they want it to be handled.
The residents’ woes don’t look to be totally alleviated by tomorrow, however, as the Yorkshire Water spokesperson also confirmed the work on Main Street will remain in place until December 6 as planned.
They added:
We also have a further team completing a repair on our wastewater network on Main Street. This is a very complex repair, and we expect to complete the work on December 6.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by each of these works and thank everyone for their patience whilst we continue the necessary work on Main Street.
The meeting will be held at 6pm tomorrow (October 15) at the Kirkby Malzeard Mechanics Institute.
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