Dorset Highways paving works in Blandford are being put on hold to allow unforeseen utility work to be carried out.
It recently came to light that fibre optic cabling is set to be laid under the pavements in the town centre this autumn and, to avoid newly laid paving being disturbed, the highways project is being paused.
The contractor undertaking the cabling works has around 200 connections to make throughout the town centre. They are currently carrying out site investigations to inform their scheme design – which will require some new ducting to be installed in the footway.
To ensure that this cabling is complete before the new paving is installed, Dorset Highways has completed its first phase of work (which will not be affected by the cabling) and have now left the site. All pavements have been left safe, and workers will return to Blandford in the New Year to complete the paving project once the utility cables have all been installed.
A new way of working had recently been established for the project in order to minimise disruption to residents and businesses, and this will be put back into operation when work resumes.
This sees highways operatives focussing on one area at a time rather than two. The new overall programme has been split into ten phases, with work being carried out in much smaller sections of around 15m at a time; with the old paving removed, foundation prepared and new slabs laid before the team move along to the next 15m of that phase.
Although much less disruptive for residents and businesses, this new way of working extends the project to a total of 33 weeks rather than the original proposed 12 weeks.
More detail of the phasing of works in the New Year will be provided nearer the time.
What is the plan for the inscribed slabs that are currently in the areas of paving which have not yet been started? If the cabling utility company is allowed to lift these there’s a higher than average chance they will be broken and just infilled with tarmac like everywhere else they’ve gone before and these quirky but fun items will be forever lost to the town.
The council should be preserving them for future reuse in the new scheme.
Hi Ken C. thank you for getting in touch, I’ll pass your concerns on to our traffic team (who can get in touch with the cabling contractor). As part of our paving scheme we are working around these unique inscriptions to ensure they remain within the new paving.
one complete waste of money a complete joke in orginisation
there was nowt wrong with the original paving
Hi t mason, the paving is being replaced as many of the paving slabs are so worn that they become extremely slippery when wet, posing a hazard to all pedestrians.
How do you justify laying new paving slabs in Blandford when you have told me that you cannot afford to maintain the paving slabs in Wimborne town centre and are, as a matter of policy, replacing any damaged ones with blacktop?
Presumably, if you are treating all towns equally, when any of these new slabs are damaged you will patch them with blacktop.
Good grief some common sense for once
The original Purbeck Stone slabs were very expensive, what is going to happen to the slabs now that they have been replaced?
Hi Michael, the old paving slabs have been sold to a reclamation company, with the money raised going towards the new paving.