A TRAFFIC hotspot is set to get worse over the next week due to emergency repairs by the water company.

Thames Water started the project on Bath Road on Saturday to fix the pipe, which is five metres below the ground.

The previous delay was caused by the need for a specialist part, which had to be delivered from outside the UK.

Temporary traffic lights have returned to the same stretch of the Bath Road, but Thames Water says the recent repair is not related.

A spokesman for Thames Water said: “We are really sorry to everyone who will be affected by these roadworks on Bath Road.

"It is an emergency repair to a leaking pipe, and we will have engineers working over the weekend and into next week repairing it.

"This work is unrelated to the repair we completed last month.

“We appreciate these works will cause delays, but it is crucial to stop this pipe leaking and we expect to have it finished by the end of next week.”

A 12-inch leak to the water main deep below the ground means temporary traffic lights will be in place over the weekend.

Electronic signs are already in place to give residents advanced notice of the works.