Further A47 flooding prompts new probe at Honingham

The road to the west of Norwich, between Easton and Honingham, has flooded five times in recent weeks - most recently last Saturday.

The road has shut twice and, although it remained open this time, vehicles had to pass through significant amounts of water at the Honingham roundabout.

The A47 near Honingham has flooded five times in recent weeks (Image: National Highways)

National Highways, the government company responsible for the road, said its pumping equipment had enabled the A47 to stay open at the weekend - but the latest problems had sparked further investigations.

The flooding has coincided with preparatory work, ahead of dualling the road between Easton and North Tuddenham.

Preparatory work for the dualling of the A47 between North Tuddenham and Easton (Image: Mike Page)

The company has insisted flooding is not connected to that work and had hoped fixing a broken pipe on nearby land would solve the issue.

But they acknowledged the problem was continuing and further investigations were needed.

A National Highways spokesman said: "The persistent flooding on the A47 around Honingham remains a priority, and when the A47 began to flood on Saturday we had crews standing by to pump the excess water away, meaning it wasn’t necessary to close the road.

"We believe a number of factors have contributed to this issue. These include significant damage to a nearby water drainage pipe and channel, both of which are on private land.

"Since the issue was first uncovered more than 40m of new pipe has been laid and a portion of garden wall taken down and rebuilt. A nearby tree – which was causing root damage to the pipe – has also been removed.

"While this work has helped improve the situation, the issues on Saturday show more needs to be done."

The spokesman said it seemed to run off from a nearby field and a sudden build-up of silt in drainage pipes and channels had contributed to the weekend's flooding.

He said: "Our work will continue until this problem is solved and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused to local people.

"Pumping equipment will also remain nearby so a temporary fix can quickly be put in place while a long-term solution is found.

"Tracing and addressing all the factors leading to localised flooding following unprecedented rainfall can be a complex problem, but National Highways remains committed to providing a permanent resolution."