GREAT Ayton villagers and parish councillors were incensed to learn that the Great Ayton to Guisborough road was being closed for essential resurfacing work for four weeks, from Sunday.

Sections between Newton under Roseberry and Pinchinthorpe are being resurfaced and a bridge waterproofed, in a £430,000 scheme. This follows resurfacing work costing £220,000 at Newton under Roseberry a year ago.

Redcar and Cleveland Council says notification signs were erected before Christmas and closure was unavoidable.

Speakers at the latest meeting of Great Ayton Parish Council said the road was the main gateway to Cleveland's chemical and steel industries, Redcar, Saltburn, Loftus, and the A171 coast road to Whitby.

Traffic will be diverted via the B1292 and A172 to Poole's and Swans Corner roundabouts and then to Guisborough via the A171. This in turn will increase the already-congested conditions at Swans Corner at peak periods.

Great Ayton Parish Council had not been informed and only learned of the work from the recently-installed roadside signs. No-one could understand why the work could not be done using single-lanes and traffic lights, rather than complete closure for such a long period.

Parish clerk Louise Holden would write to North Yorkshire County Council and Redcar and Cleveland Council, expressing outrage.

This week, a Redcar and Cleveland Council spokesman told the D&S Times how health and safety regulations dictated the road had to be closed.

"At the bridge, the road is not wide enough to operate a single carriageway while men are working. The width at the other section is also too narrow."

Regarding notification of the work, he said: "Signs were put up before Christmas. In one way, we're pleased that the parish council did see these. There is no statutory requirement to notify the parish council, and we did not notify it last year before another major piece of work was done. We are more than willing to give the parish council a detailed briefing, if it contacts our engineers.

"The work has been a major investment over the last 18 months. We acknowledge it is a vital route and that's why the work is being done. If we did not resurface the road, it would literally crumble to pieces and have to be closed for possibly a longer period of time, while we reconstructed it completely.