Flooded A143 in Bury St Edmunds shut for two weeks causing 'chaos'

The road has been shut due to flooding since 31 December

Delays to reopen a major road damaged by flooding have caused "chaos", a council leader said.

The A143 Compiegne Way in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk has been closed since 31 December and may not open until later this week.

More than 300,000 litres of water have been removed since Thursday - more than half the amount removed during Storm Ciarán across the whole county.

The West Suffolk Council leader said it had caused traffic issues in the town.

Suffolk Highways, part of Suffolk County Council, said water being pumped had to be disposed of at a plant in Beccles due to local facilities being at capacity.

A spokesman said: "Unfortunately, the water levels continue to prevent our teams from accessing the highway drainage system and identifying what works are required to return the system that pumps the water here to an outfall in the River Lark some 3km away.

"Whilst we have had some respite in the recent rain, water levels on Compiegne Way are not reducing and we believe saturated ground and a high water table are compounding the road flooding and the challenges for our teams."

Parts of Suffolk suffered severe flooding on the roads throughout December and early January, such as here on the A1120 at Yoxford

Cliff Waterman, leader of West Suffolk Council, said: "I'd rather get some sense they're aware of the deep rooted organisational problems that led to this chaos.

"In particular [there is] no plan in place to deal with flooding on this road or any other roads in Suffolk.

"Apologies are fine but it's easy, what I want to see is action. I want to see this road reopened and that they have a robust plan in place to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Mr Waterman said that in his Eastgate Ward in Bury St Edmunds, traffic "builds up through Eastgate Street" as a consequence, with journeys usually taking five minutes now taking half an hour instead.

A tanker was on site on Saturday and Monday to remove more water which had to be taken to a plant in Beccles, about 43 miles (69 km) away, as local facilities were at full capacity, Suffolk Highways said.

Once the water has been cleared, contractors will remove an estimated 80 to 100 tonnes of silt from the pumping system.

The road will then be cleared of debris and work to fix "significant damage to the surface of the road" will begin.