BELEAGUERED motorists and local businesses are bracing themselves for another 12 weeks of roadwork misery along one of Purbeck’s busiest routes.

Engineers are set to start digging up a section of the A351 Sandford Road next Monday, just months after a complete five-week closure on the same highway That was a closure that local firms said cost them thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

The latest work, carried out by Wessex Water, will see one lane closed at Sandford and affects all northbound Poole traffic.

Engineers are laying a new sewer to protect nearby homes from the risk of flooding.

Wessex Water chiefs say they were unable to co-ordinate the work with Dorset County Council’s November re-surfacing project.

After the sewer work was announced, Jonathan Barker, Wessex Water’s project manager, said: “While the county council and Wessex Water make efforts to co-ordinate works whenever possible, on this occasion we were unable to carry out the work at the same time as it would have been detrimental to local businesses by effectively cutting off the Holton Heath trading estate.”

However, during November’s A351 closure, businesses based on Sandford Road reported a 40 per cent drop in custom.

While the A351 is closed to northbound Poole traffic, a diversion along the B3075 Morden Road, on to the A35, will be implemented.