MOTORISTS are facing big delays while a new, long-awaited eight-screen cinema is built in the heart of a Suffolk town.Work on the multi-screen complex, along with four restaurants, planned for Bury St Edmunds' Parkway, will begin on Monday.
MOTORISTS are facing big delays while a new, long-awaited eight-screen cinema is built in the heart of a Suffolk town.
Work on the multi-screen complex, along with four restaurants, planned for Bury St Edmunds' Parkway, will begin on Monday.
But the construction period has forced St Edmundsbury Borough Council to announce a series of temporary road closures and car parking arrangements, which will come into force over the next two months.
From Monday onwards, Anglian Water will begin work to move a water main stretching across the site. Spaces at the rear of the Parkway car park will remain available to visitors, as will those in the neighbouring multi-storey.
But from August 30, the main entrance to the car park will be closed, with traffic directed instead to an opening in Chalk Road North.
And on September 14, Parkway's northbound dual carriageway will be shut for around two weeks, with cars directed into single lanes in a contraflow on the southbound side.
The changes will continue into October, with the town's Kings Road closed from the Parkway roundabout to the Prospect Row junction for two to four weeks from the start of the month.
A spokesman for the council said: "This is an exciting time for Bury St Edmunds as preparation starts for the new cinema.
"We apologise for the temporary traffic delays and changes to car parking access for a few weeks in September and October as a water main is moved.
"Once that is accomplished, work will start on site. We hope people will be patient and understand that the pain will be worth the gain once the cinema opens around Christmas 2005."
Work on the cinema is due for completion by Christmas 2005, when it is hoped a Hollywood superstar will visit Bury to officially open the multi-screen.
For up-to-date information on the temporary car park arrangements, contact Jacky Martin on 01284 757328, David Lyttle on 01284 757317 or visit www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk
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