INITIAL anger over a 12-day road closure on a busy housing estate may have given way to relief among residents, a local councillor believes.

Truro city councillor Loic Rich says he was inundated with concerns by “lots of people” when they realised the entrance to the Uplands area off Tregolls Road would be closed for 12 days.

Before the road was closed, local resident Steve Hardy said: “There’s a major row brewing just down the road from me over a two-week road closure from June 16 which it predicts will cause chaos in the Uplands area of Truro.

“The plan is to close a short section of the road at the traffic lights from Trevithick Road to the junction with Uplands Crescent, which would affect hundreds of homes and school traffic. What is more galling is that the closure is just to put drainage in to one property.”

Cllr Rich, who is also a member of Cornwall Council’s new Cabinet, says he has been contacted by lots of residents since March, many of whom were worried about the effects of the closure on parking and getting back to their homes in the residential area, which includes Trevithick Road, Uplands Crescent, Midway Drive, Penhaligon Court and Uplands Vean.

He said: “It does look like a lot of fuss for just one house, but it’s mains sewage so you’ve got to do it whether it’s one house or 20 houses, but I think everyone’s annoyed because of the length of time – 12 days – which has concerned everybody.

“A lot of people use it as a rat-run, so it occurred to me it might not be as bad as some might think.”

He added, after the first day’s closure: “It has been quiet. I had a lot of people contact me before the road was closed and now it has, no one has called me. Normally, if there was a problem, I’d be getting people calling me constantly about it.

“Sometimes you think something is going to cause chaos and it doesn’t. The people who live in Uplands might actually find it gets quieter for them. The only hassle for them is leaving to get to Tregolls Road.” They will now have to leave by going up to Tregurra or by heading down Mitchell Hill.

“The real downside, which will affect people, is the city bus service won’t run through there, but the bus company has done it’s best to let people know about that.”

Cornwall Council’s website makes clear that due to the road closure a number of Truro buses are unable to serve Trevithick Road and Tregurra Lane and will divert via Tregolls Road and Newquay Road where a temporary stop will be provided.

The work is being carried out by RBS Groundworks, in agreement with the council, for a mains sewer connection, storm drain connection and a drop kerb for a new property on Trevithick Road, near the junction with Tregolls Road.

A spokesperson for the company said: “We have to go down 2.5 metres. Under health and safety rules and to do the job correctly, we have to have a road closure for 12 days. We wouldn’t have been able to do the work using traffic lights.

“We don’t want to upset any residents and have carried out as many precautions as we can to ensure we keep everyone happy.” The spokesperson said the company had only been contacted by two concerned locals.