Shoppers and traders have been warned to expect disruption during nine days of vital resurfacing work to repair winter-damaged roads in the centre of Dereham.

Norfolk County Council has announced a programme of road closures and restrictions starting at 8am on Sunday, August 7, and scheduled for completion on Monday, August 15.

The �200,000 project will include work on Wellington Road around the war memorial, Quebec Road between Wellington Road and Elvin Road, and Swaffham Road between Quebec Road and Riverside Close.

Highways officers met representatives from the town council and the Dereham Chamber of Trade last month to discuss ways to minimise the impact of the work.

Chamber of Trade secretary Stephen Cross, said the repairs were essential and he was confident that all possible efforts had been made to reduce the disruption to the Market Place.

'It is going to cause some disruption,' he said. 'That is patently obvious, but in all fairness I think that what the highways department have proposed will alleviate much of that congestion as far as possible.

'We made some useful suggestions which have been taken on board. The timings of the road closures are not 24 hours, so people will at least be able to get to work and home afterwards on their normal route.

'They are doing this work during school holidays because there is less traffic than at other times. And there will be no work on the Saturday, which is the busiest day.

'It is going to be difficult, but hopefully people will understand that this work has got to be done. Some of those pieces of road are atrocious.'

The work will be in five phases:

?Phase 1, August 7. Wellington Road closed. Resurfacing of section of Market Place and Wellington Road to the east of the memorial.

?Phases 2 and 3, August 8-12. Swaffham Road closed. Resurfacing of Swaffham Road, from Riverside Close to immediately west of junction with Quebec Road.

?Phase 4, August 14. Quebec Road closed. Resurfacing of Quebec Road, between Elvin Road and Wellington Road

?Phase 5, August 15. Closure of northern and western legs of Wellington Road around war memorial. Parking restrictions on Quebec Street (not Quebec Road). Resurfacing of Wellington Road immediately north of the memorial, and Market Place immediately west of the memorial.

On weekdays, working will be restricted to 9.30am to 4.30pm. Signed diversions will be in place and, for the majority of the work, traffic will be diverted via Dereham Road, Drayton Hall Lane, A47 and London Road.

There will be no work planned on Saturdays, while work on Sundays will begin at 8am.

Norfolk County Council apologises for the inconvenience caused by the work.