We are forced to take an 11 mile detour to get to the town 300 meters away due to road works blocking our home

A furious couple have had to travel 11 miles to a town just 300 meters from their doorstep for road works.

Drew Pearce and Katie Wilcox claim their home outside of Pocklington, East Yorkshire has been cut off by the construction work.

3

3

The couple live just 300 meters from the city center on Burnby Lane and commute there regularly for work and errands.

Local residents claim they were not notified of the disruption in advance.

But they say repairs to the road leading to the center meant it was closed for two and a half months.

That means they’re forced to drive five and a half miles each way to avoid the site.

Drew, 45, has calculated he will find himself shelling out a whopping £1,200 in petrol costs to get around the block in the coming weeks.

The credit card company employee works part-time from home but regularly has to make the short journey to visit elderly relatives, run errands and view a property he manages.

3

He has attacked the developers over the problem, who are building a walkway for a housing development on the property across the street.

said Drew HullLive: “What should only go up the lane is now more than a 10 mile round trip.

“What really got my goat is that it wasn’t published in the local paper until March 30th – the road was closed on April 4th.

“We only found out we don’t have access because we happened to see that. We were never officially informed about it.

“One of my neighbors just recovered from cancer so they can’t just go into town.

“The developers have been telling people to walk through the forest instead.

“But that’s just not realistic for people who are disabled or just don’t want to walk through dark woods after work.

“Given that we’re so close to the city, it’s a major irritation.”

“HUGE IRRITATION”

Dozens of other residents also claim their access to the city center has been blocked, with a local business saying it has severely impacted their sales.

Local residents are calling for the road to be reopened on weekends and overnight to address the problem.

Denise Slights, who owns vacation homes in Willow Waters, said the closure has impacted customers and caused a lot of inconvenience.

She said: “I understand what they are doing and why, but they could have been more sympathetic to the people who live here.

“It’s not just a side street, it’s home to a lot of people and it’s really affected the residents here.”

A spokesman for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, which gave permission for the works, added: “Creating the footpath from the housing development to the existing path was a requirement of the planning application so it had to be done.

“A road closure was required at this location because the road was too narrow to use temporary traffic lights and allow traffic to pass to keep motorists and workers safe in accordance with our regulations.

“Access for pedestrians and other non-motorized traffic will be maintained, but it has not been possible to keep the road open to vehicular traffic and therefore the establishment of a diversion was not considered unreasonable given the need to keep people safe .

“The property developer and the council have agreed on this.”