Concrete barriers put on Suffolk road to enforce '14-mile detour'

The road in Lakenheath will be shut until 31 December

Concrete bollards have been installed to enforce a 45-week road closure after motorists "removed barriers" to avoid detours of up to 14 miles (22.5km).

Farthing Drove, in Lakenheath, Suffolk, was closed due to a damaged culvert that was undermining the road.

Suffolk County Council put up plastic barriers as work began on Tuesday, but has had to add immovable ones.

Resident Laura Murfitt said ""It has been shut for one reason or another more than once a year for four years."

She added: "The council never do it up properly."

"When [the council] shut the road we then have to take a 28-mile [round trip]."

Farthing Drove was "the main road from Ely and Littleport [in Cambridgeshire] to Lakenheath village, Brandon and Thetford", she added.

The diversion connects one end of the 1.5 mile-long (2.4km) stretch of road to the other.

The council said only the thickness of the surface was currently holding up the road but there was a three metre (10ft) wide cavity under the surface.

A spokeswoman said concrete bollards have been put on the road "due to members of the public removing the barriers and continuing to drive along the damaged part of the road".

"We are working on designs for the reconstruction of the embankment and culvert and are liaising with specialist contractors to ensure the repairs are completed as quickly as possible," she added.

The council said significant damage to the culvert resulted in a collapse under the road

Correction 29 February 2020: An earlier version of this story stated the diversion was 28 miles (45km). This has been amended.