ANGRY residents claim they will be trapped in their street when work to install water pipes gets underway on Monday.

Work is ongoing to turn the old Holgate Villas office block in Holgate Road in York into flats, and Yorkshire Water will shut Lowther Terrace for five days from 8am to 5pm to install 52 connections.

The move has frustrated residents who claim their day to day lives will be disrupted when they are unable to get in and out of the street or park outside their homes.

One resident of Lowther Terrace, who declined to be named, said: "One family has a six month old baby and there are people who run businesses here and need to get their cars out.

"This is an access road to about 60 homes and it's being closed during peak times.

"From a residents' point of view it's quite bad but they are saying it's not our problem.

"I don't care what they come up with as long as they help us."

John Reeves, of the Helmsley Group, the developers behind the building work, said: "There's nothing we can do about it and it will be closed because the pipes need to be put in.

"We asked them to close half the road then close another half, but they said it had to be done all at once.

"It will take a maximum of five days but could take three.

"We pushed them to do this as fast as humanly possible because we don't want to cause disruption but we are at their mercy."

A spokeswoman for Yorkshire Water said: "We apologise for any inconvenience local residents may experience as a result of our closure of Lowther Terrace next week.

"We will ensure the road is open at 5pm each day for access and will carry out the work as quickly as possible.

"Closing a road is a last resort for us but the safety of road users and our employees is our priority. If residents have concerns about the closure please contact us on 0345 1 24 24 24 so we can discuss these individually."