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Five weeks have gone by already since a hole opened up in the A25 at Platt - yet repair work is still ongoing.
A contractor found a void beside a Southern Water manhole near Glebe Lodge on the Maidstone Road where a trunk sewer had partially collapsed, not far from the Ingleborough Lane junction.
The road is a main thoroughfare from the A20 through to Sevenoaks, but traffic is being diverted in a three-mile loop along the A20 London Road, to Wrotham Heath Roundabout, A227 Wrotham Bypass, Borough Green Road, Wrotham Road, Western Road and back to rejoin the A25 by the Red Lion pub.
The route takes the traffic past Wrotham School, Borough Green Station and the end of Borough Green High Street, which makes it particularly difficult for traffic trying to emerge from the High Street to find a gap.
Residents along the diversion route are getting increasingly fed up with the heavy traffic heading past their homes and through the village centre.
Barry Barnes of Western Road,Borough Green, said: "We've had enough. There are huge lorries coming through and they block everything up.
"How much longer is this going on for?"
Sadly, the answer is quite a long time.
KCC has granted Southern Water permission to keep the A25 closed until August 20.
The repair work is proving to be a major task.
The initial hole was said to measure 4m by 4m, but the more Southern Water has investigated, the more of the the 1920s concrete sewer they find has decayed.
Apologising for the lengthy closure, Southern Water said “It's a major piece of emergency repair. Some 200 metres of pipe needs to be replaced or lined with a structural sleeve which will have to be specially constructed."
Mike Taylor, chairman of Borough Green Parish Council and ward councillor at Tonbridge and Malling council explained: "We've had bad sewage problems in the area for 15 to 20 years. Southern Water was always very reluctant to do anything about it until quite recently, when we had a new local engineer.
"Since then the main pumping station in Maidstone Road has been repaired and several sewage leaks dealt with.
"But this collapse has given it a major problem.
"Initially it said it would take 10 weeks to repair, but the more it investigates, the more damage they find. This same pipe runs all the way to Wrotham Heath.
"So it's likely that traffic jams and sewage works will be with us for several months."
Cllr Taylor said the diverted traffic was causing a problem for Borough Green, but he said: "It's been made worse because some motorists are not sticking to the diversion, but trying a short-cut up the High Street.
"The High Street is now frequently blocked, because of the time it takes the traffic to exit onto Western Road.
"As they edge out, so they block the diversion route, and the whole thing becomes circular."
Cllr Taylor (Ind Alliance) was concerned that the situation in the High Street was now becoming dangerous.
He said: "Tempers are flaring and pedestrians are being put at risk."
He said: "The other day, my wife and I were crossing the High Street on the crossing after a car stopped for us - we were nearly run down by a motorist who pulled out and tried to go around on the wrong side of the road.
"An another occasion, a lady was walking down the pavement when a car bumped up on it and followed closely down the road, with the driver swearing at her because she was in the way."
He and the KCC division member Cllr Harry Rayner (Con) are now pushing KCC to close the High Street to through traffic while the diversion is in place.
He said: "We polled residents and two thirds are in favour of a temporary closure.
"Local traffic visiting the High Street shops will still be able to turn around in the Village Hall car park."
At this stage KCC has not agreed to the request.
Cllr Taylor praised Southern Water saying their liaison with residents and the parish council had been "outstanding." He said: "Our thanks to them, and in particular to the engineer Andy Morris.
"The good thing is, that once all this is over, residents should no longer have sewage leaking into their gardens."
For further information, contact Southern Water on 0330 303 0368.
Read more: All the latest news from Malling
