We're preparing to carry out essential network upgrades along the A251 Ashford Road from Monday 5 August. This work will ensure a safe and reliable supply of gas continues to be delivered to nearby homes and businesses.
To ensure everyone's safety while we upgrade our network, we need to close A251 Ashford Road and Lees Court Road around our work area. Further details of the affected areas can be seen in the map below.
Update - Friday 30 August
We've installed 190m of pipe this week and renewed or upgraded 13 services, as we carry out work along the A251 near its junction with Lees Court Road.
Our work and reinstatement is expected to move south of this junction towards the end of next week. This will enable Sheldwich and North Street residents to get to and from Faversham along the A251.
We're on schedule with our upgrade project and have now laid approximately 2600m of new pipe in four weeks. We've identified we can upgrade our pipes in Lees Court Road without requiring a road closure, and will be using give and take instead. Ahead of the new school term starting, we'll be monitoring the traffic here and will introduce further controls if necessary. This section of work on Lees Court Road is expected to take a bit longer than anticipated as there are more services to transfer onto the existing plastic gas main than expected.
We've liaised with Stagecoach and should be able to permit a school bus service to travel along the A251 while we continue our upgrades, subject to no unexpected engineering issues being encountered and meaning we need to dig further out into the road to access our pipe. Stagecoach have confirmed that there will be two buses in the morning and one in the afternoon. Please check the Stagecoach website for timings of these services.
Update - Tuesday 27 August
We've installed 850m of pipe last week, bringing the work area down to just short of the junction with Lees Court Road. We're on schedule and work is progressing well. We're carrying out some investigation work around the junction of Lees Court Road to allow us to confirm when we will need to install our second road closure at that location - an update on this will follow shortly.
To keep everyone safe around our work area, we respectfully ask that all drivers passing the works area for access drive no faster than 20mph and use their hazard lights.
Update - Monday 19 August
Last week, we installed 360m of new pipe and renewed/upgraded 20 services. Reinstatement is in progress, but the engineering team could not work over the weekend as farm vehicles were active.
This week, we'll be installing 60m on Wednesday and, all going to plan, another 900m of pipe at the weekend. This will take us down to just short of the entrance to St James Church, Sheldwich.
Update - Monday 12 August
Our engineers installed 1200m of new plastic pipe during the first week of our project. We're working to reinstate the areas around our excavations along this section over the next couple of days.
Residents within the closure points along the A251 are now able to travel one-way towards Faversham. Drivers must display their resident passes and we request you progress past the work area slowly and with your hazard lights on. This will help reduce congestion on nearby lanes.
All other motorists should follow the signed diversion route in operation while the closure is in place. We're monitoring the use of unauthorised passes which may have been obtained by people outside of the area.
This week, we'll be preparing to complete the next section of gas network upgrades. This will involve replacing approximately 400m of pipe here as well as upgrading or renewing an estimated 30 service connections.
What we'll be doing
Installing a new pipe
Our engineers will be removing our old metal mains and installing new plastic pipe, which is more reliable and has a lifespan of approximately 80 years.
When we're working
Our project will be split into phases to help minimise disruption to residents and road users. We'll be working extended hours to complete this project as quickly and safely as possible.
Phase one
We'll start our work on Monday 5 August, where our engineers will be upgrading our network along the A251 Ashford Road between its junctions with M2 (Junction 6) and Lees Court Road. A251 Ashford Road will be closed to motorists between these two locations.
There will be no access to or from A251 Ashford Road at its junctions with Porters Lane and Plumford Road during this phase.
When we reach Salters Lane and New House Lane, we will need to temporarily close these junctions for safety, too.
Once we have completed our first phase of work, we have two further phases. These will run simultaneously with separate teams carrying out upgrades on the sections.
Phase two will see our engineers upgrade our network along A251 Ashford Road from Lees Court Road and will progress to outside Lords Cottages. A251 Ashford Road will remain closed around our site.
While we work near Lees Court Road, this junction will be temporarily closed to motorists. However, Old Badgins Road will be closed for the duration of our second phase.
Our additional team will be working in Lees Court Road as part of phase three. We'll be upgrading our network between Stocks Barn and Merry Mead, with this section of road shut to motorists. Phase three will start when the phase two work at the A251 Ashford Road/Lees Court Road junction has been completed.
Bus services will be affected by our work. Please check with your service provider for the latest updates to bus stop locations, routes and timetables.
Access to closed roads will be maintained for residents and emergency vehicles. Traffic marshals will be on site assisting with access.
Signed diversions are in place for all other road users.
We'll be providing weekly updates on our progress.
We recognise this work will be disruptive for the Faversham community. However, this work is essential to ensuring a safe and reliable supply of gas is delivered to the area.
Old metal gas mains that have reached the end of their useful life need replacing with new yellow polyethylene (PE) plastic pipe which is designed to last 80 years. The Health and Safety Executive require us to replace all cast iron pipes.
By replacing the gas main with a plastic pipe, we decrease the risk of gas leaks and the need for disruptive unplanned road closures while engineers carry out investigations. Gas leaks also have an impact on the environment and carbon emissions.
We've explored all potential options with the Highways team before making the difficult decision to close A251 Ashford Road.
Due to the depth and location of the main in the road, this is the safest option for everyone. It would not be safe or legal to allow vehicles access around the working area.
Our engineers need to carry out work to dig multiple holes approximately one metre deep. This needs to be done with great care to avoid damage to other utility equipment including electric cables. Working in the hours of darkness significantly increases risks to both equipment and our workers.
We’re also working with live gas and need to access customers properties which is not practical during the night. We will, however, be working extended hours from 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday, on Saturdays between 8am to 5pm and on Sundays from 10am to 4pm.
Emergency access will be maintained where it is safe to do so. We’ve liaised with emergency services, providing them with full details of the road closure and access arrangements.
In consultation with Kent Highways and local parishes, we’re arranged to put temporary closures on some of the side roads where they join the A251. Traffic marshalls will be on hand to control access maintained for residents and farm traffic.
We’ve kept in close contact with Stagecoach who run the local bus services. We’ve been asked to contribute a substantial amount of money to keep the service running along the diversion route, and this is in the process of being agreed. Stagecoach have advised us it’s not possible to run a shuttle bus into Sheldwich itself due to there being no safe place to turn a vehicle around.
There are many reasons why our engineers may not always be visible – as well as having to take mandatory breaks, they may be inside properties working on customers internal pipework, collecting pipe and fittings, or waiting for road surfaces to set following reinstatement.
We are in contact with a representative at Swale Council to keep them updated on our work to help ensure collections can go ahead.