AN MP has provided a “disappointing” update on the Sadlers Farm roundabout repairs, with more delays reportedly expected.

Balfour Beatty started repair works to the A13/A130 junction of Sadlers Farm roundabout in 2017 after Essex County Council discovered a number of defects.

Back in 2022, it was claimed works would be finished by the end of the year, before then starting in January it would be just eight more weeks.

However, Rebecca Harris, MP for Castle Point, has claimed after a call from Balfour Beatty regarding the situation, it may now not be completed until the end of May.

In a statement, Ms Harris said: “I received a call from a managing director of Balfour Beatty UK regarding Sadlers Farm.

“It was a very disappointing conversation.

“Balfour Beatty have identified yet another fault on the bridges whilst they were realigning them as part of their final round of remedial works on the junction.

“The cones will now remain possibly as long as the end of May while they replace the bridge bearings.

“I asked that the cones and other traffic management be removed when the crews aren’t visibly working on the site and received quite a technical response as to why that was not a safe or viable option.

“I explained that residents will find this further delay unacceptable.

“I understand that this further issue needs fixing now to make sure Balfour don’t have to come back in the future and plague the main entrance into and out of the Borough with more works.

“But the fact remains that if there weren’t absurd delays on starting the works in the first place and it hadn’t taken me insisting on a meeting in Parliament before they got things moving, then this new issue would have been discovered earlier and the junction would be cone free already.”

Works have included the replacement of bridge bearings and structural repairs on the Sadlers Farm and the Sadlers Hall bridges as well as fencing and barrier improvements and surfacing works on the A130.

Balfour Beatty has been contacted for comment by the Echo.