COUNCILS are often criticised for not giving motorists and the public enough warning about roadworks, particularly those set to have a major impact on their journeys.

But that cannot be said in the case of yesterday’s “fatberg” works which bought not only the city but parts of the county to a standstill as workers began to dig up part of Park End Street.

There was plenty of warning and several signs and notices put up in the weeks before notifying people of the expected disruption.

However, nobody could have quite predicted the chaos it would cause in reality.

People may have wrongly assumed that such a small street could not possibly be the root of such huge delays. And it’s concerning that the county council is completely ruling out making any adjustments, such as opening up bus lanes or lifting the High Street bus gate, to help ease the congestion which will continue for another two weeks.

Instead it seems to be relying on drivers working out their own alternative routes.

This is yet another reminder of how fragile our transport system is.

Close one, relatively small, street and it has implications miles away, clogging up the A34 for hours and causing 10-minute drives to take over an hour.

We need a complete re-think and sooner rather than later.

It is ironic that this has happened just days after county council leader Ian Hudspeth unveiled his vision to solve the county’s transport woes.

On the basis of yesterday’s chaos, the quicker that vision is turned into reality, the better.