Ruddington residents feel 'trapped in own homes' as roadworks extended for two months

They feel they 'don't exist' and are no longer part of the village

Residents living in part of a Nottinghamshire village say they feel as though they are trapped in their homes after long-running roadworks were extended for another two months. Neighbours living in and off Flawforth Lane, in Ruddington, are frustrated at the closure of the road while improvements are carried out on the junction with the A60.

To drive to the centre of the village - usually a 0.7-mile route - they face a four-mile diversion which encompasses the A52 and often hectic Nottingham Knight and Wheatcroft roundabouts. The two-month works were scheduled to be completed this weekend (Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22), but have now been extended to November 16, with neighbours claiming they were given little-to-no notice.

Benchmark Property, which is working with Newline Civils on the improvements, said it was doing its best to speed up the process. Gwen Eyre, who lives with her husband and two young boys in Flawforth Avenue, said she feels "trapped in my own house".

"It's had a big affect on me. It's made me feel really anxious," said the 47-year-old charity worker. "My son has been sick and struggles to walk to school and Beavers.

"But Nottingham Knight roundabout at 8.30am fills me with anxiety. My elderly parents live in Loughborough and don't want to drive to us because it adds so much stress to the journey."

Mrs Eyre said the current work was the latest in 15 months of on-and-off disruption. "Everybody agrees they need doing, we've campaigned for a pedestrian crossing for years, but we're not told anything," she said.

"It's been 15 months of roadworks. We think 'when will this end?'. It changes your whole life. I feel like we're not part of the village, we may as well join Edwalton as far as I'm concerned."

Angela Hogarth, a pensioner who lives across the road, said she was "fed up" and felt as though "we don't exist". She said: "It's beyond a joke but we don't know what else we can do. It's not too bad to walk into the village but it is if you're lesser able."

Mrs Hogarth, aged 71, said she was also having "tremendous problems" with receiving deliveries. "People can't come, it took me three times to get my bird feed and my wine delivery couldn't get in," she said.

"I have to ring up to explain, people don't realise there's another way in. We've put up with it for so long. I've lived here for 35 years and I've never experienced anything like this."

Next-door neighbour Nancy Fisk said her husband Dean had also been unable to get deliveries for his plumbing business for months. "If you order anything from anywhere other than Amazon, who are determined, they say sorry you can't order," she said.

"My husband's not had plumbing parts delivered for months it's been closed for so long, he's had to collect." Mrs Fisk said the workers were now "so entrenched it's like they're part of the fixtures and fittings".

"I'm surprised they don't have a disco on Saturday nights," she added. "The workers are so polite, it's not their fault, it's the council.

"They think we're moaning but it affects getting to places like Loughborough and the M1 too, it's access to a myriad of places. It seems like a middle-aged, middle-class problem I suppose compared to what's going on in the world.

"We asked if we could come to a compromise. We just want to know if we can come up with a plan b or c."

A spokesperson for Benchmark Property said in a statement: "The junction itself has four arms and traffic must be allowed to flow as freely as possible through all arms at all times – ironically, if we were allowed to close the junction off completely (and just get on with it) then it could be done in a matter of weeks but sadly and obviously that wasn’t and isn’t a possibility.

"The team are doing their best now to bring the civil [engineering] work through and working with Nottinghamshire County Council we hope to get the carriageway surfacing done in larger areas and to speed up the process." Nottinghamshire County Council declined to comment.