A47 at Honingham in Norfolk to close for work to stop floods

The road to the west of Norwich, between Easton and Honingham, has flooded at least eight times since last October.

Drivers faced disruption and delays on the A47 at Honingham (Image: Denise Bradley)

The problem forced the road to be shut on two occasions, or for drivers to have to negotiate potentially dangerous water, prompting Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman to demand action.

National Highways, the government company responsible for the road, had to bring in pumps to clear the water lapping on the A47.

National Highways brought in pumps to clear water off the A47 (Image: Denise Bradley)

The organisation launched investigations to establish the cause of the problem, which people living nearby said were new to that section of the A47.

They had hoped fixing a broken pipe and the construction of a soil bank would prevent further incidents.

The soil bank which was built to try to stop flooding (Image: National Highways)

But are now carrying out further work - installing underground tanks to collect the water and allow it to be released in a controlled way.

It will mean the road at Honingham will have to be shut completely for a day, with lane closures at other times while work is completed.

A National Highways spokesman said: "We have already done work to help reduce the risk of flooding at Honingham.

"We are now installing tanks that will separate out the clean flood water from the silt and other debris.

"The remaining water stored within the tanks can then be released in a controlled flow. To install the tanks safely, we will need to close the road on Friday, April 12.

"The remainder of the work will be carried out using lane closures."

National Highways has not said how long the work will take in total, or how much it will cost.

Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman (Image: UK Parliament)

The flooding issues coincided with National Highways' preparatory work on the A47, ahead of dualling the road between Easton and North Tuddenham, but the company has insisted that did not cause the problems.

The majority of A47 dualling work is on hold because of a legal challenge by environmental campaigner Dr Andrew Boswell, who argues the government acted unlawfully when it gave permission for the work.