Work to repair Lawley Culvert near Longnor

Work to repair Lawley Culvert, which carries the Longnor to Chatwall Hall road over a watercourse, is scheduled to start on Tuesday 31 May 2011 and is expected to last for a period of up to five weeks.

The work will involve rebuilding the culvert’s downstream parapet,which collapsed in 2010 as a result of vehicular impact. 

In an attempt to prevent the new parapet from being damaged in a similar manner, the work will also involve widening the road slightly at the culvert.  This will be achieved by excavating the road and building a new reinforced concrete slab which will cantilever over the edge of the existing culvert.  The new parapet will then be built on top of it and the road surface reinstated. 

Unfortunately, because of the narrow nature of the road, it will be necessary for safety reasons to close it to both traffic and pedestrians for the duration of the work.

When the road is closed, traffic will be diverted via Enchmarsh, Comley and Holyhurst. 

Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for transport, said:

“It is appreciated that the closure of the road will cause inconvenience, but I hope that people will understand that it is necessary for safety reasons.  Every reasonable effort will be made to reopen the road as soon as possible.”

Tim Barker, Shropshire Councillor for Burnell, said:

“This route is widely used by locals for essential travel as well as by tourists and others to access the Lawley and Lodge Hill for recreation.  Its closure will inconvenience many, but I hope that all will appreciate that the work has to be carried out, and that every effort will be made to keep the disruption to a minimum.”