DRIVERS have been warned that the eastern section of Alton High Street will be closed for up to to four weeks from this Wednesday (June 8) to allow Thames Water to carry out work on a damaged surface water sewer.

This is the pipe which carries rain water away from the road, not sewage from properties.

According to Thames Water, if it isn’t fixed over time it will break and rainwater would then flood out into the road and potentially into properties.

The damaged pipe was noticed while the company was carrying our emergency work on part of the sewage system outside the banks and Swan Hotel in December.

Rather than extend the emergency work it was agreed with Hampshire County Council, as the highways agency, to undertake these repairs at a later date to allow time to notify businesses and carefully plan diversions.

In a statement this week, the water company said: “This is important work to protect properties from flooding when it rains and can only be done while the road is closed for the safety of our repair team.

“We’ve carefully planned the job with the council so diversions for traffic and buses can be set up and clearly signposted and we’ve also written to businesses to warn them about our work.

“We’ll do all we can to finish as quickly as possible and keep disruption to a minimum.”

The High Street will be closed round the clock from the top of Crown Hill, at the junction with Church Street and Normandy Street, where there will be a manned closure, to the junction with Market Street.

A diversion will be in place, directing traffic around Drayman’s Way.

The work is expected to take between three to four weeks to complete.