Failing water main to be replaced at Polegate

The work is intended to protect water supplies for customers in the town

A £750,000 project to replace a water main that has burst 14 times in 10 years is to start in Sussex.

South East Water said it would replace the one-mile (0.6km) section of pipe in Wannock Road, Polegate.

Customers in Eastbourne, Polegate, Stone Cross, Westham and Pevensey have been left with no supplies or very low pressure when the pipe has burst.

The water company said Wannock Road would be closed to through traffic from 25 October until January 2011.

It said a diversion will be in place but access will be maintained for residents.

David Brend, the company's delivery manager, said the water main had come to the end of its working life.