Town High Street to close for 14 weeks

The road will be closed while the Manor House in Fordwich is repaired

The main road through a town near near Canterbury, in Kent, will be closed to traffic for up to 14 weeks.

High Street, in Fordwich, will be shut from Monday while a crumbling timber frame building on its northern end with King Street is refurbished.

Both High Street and King Street were due to be closed until September but Barnaby Riggs, the building owner, and Kent County Council (KCC) have agreed to reduce the closure time and only shut one road.

A KCC spokesperson said: "The closure is now anticipated to be 12 weeks, potentially 14 if affected by poor weather."

The Manor House dates from the mid-16th Century and has seen large lumps of plaster fall off it onto the footpath.

Mr Riggs has apologised to locals for the inconvenience, explaining repair work is essential to the buildings integrity after previous preventative measures only slowed the decay.

The KCC spokesperson said: "The revised plan will involve simultaneous work on both facades of the building, with only High Street being closed to facilitate these efforts.

"To accommodate this change, a narrower than usual temporary footway will be established on King Street.

"We anticipate that the reduced traffic volumes and additional information signs will mitigate any inconvenience caused by this adjustment."

"We will closely monitor the progress of the works and make any necessary adjustments to the closure plan as the project advances."

Local builder Gary Bounds says a frost free Spring could mean the building work time is further reduced

Builder Gary Bounds worked on The Manor House when it was struck by an HGV taking the tight corner between King Street and the High Street five years ago.

He said: "It ripped the whole front and I used thin three board scaffolding to prevent road closures whilst fixing it but KCC say that isn't possible this time."

Mr Bounds believes that the work will be completed well within the three month schedule.

"Traditional sand and lime plaster takes around a month for it to go fully hard," he said.

"Now we're hopefully out of the frost season it will speed things up as that prevents the plaster setting."

The High Street will be closed to all traffic from Monday 7 April with vehicles having to take diversions via the A28 Sturry Road and Stodmarsh Road to reach Fordwich.