THERE are some pills that cannot be sugared, and the closure of the road leading to Cheney Manor Industrial Estate is one of them.

For the next four weeks, assuming everything continues to happen on schedule, the disruption will be considerable.

There is simply no way around the problem other than via a tortuous diversion involving Cheney Manor Road, Vicarage Road, Akers Way and Darby Close.

While the pill can’t be sugared, however, we can at least comfort ourselves with the knowledge that it’s a vital remedy for a very nasty ailment.

The closure marks the final stage of a multi-million pound project to end the severe and chronic flooding problems which are a depressing feature of life in the Cheney Manor and Bruce Street Bridges areas.

Without the new drainage system, the problem would surely have become far worse thanks to the increased usage predicted for the area.

As with any major road works and diversion, there will be some who simply cannot avoid them. Their only hope of minimising their frustration is to factor in some extra journey time – and then double it to be on the safe side.

Car sharing, even if only for the duration of the closure, will also help to reduce the misery, and so will the use of public transport wherever it is possible.

And the rest of us? For the sake of those who have no choice but to use the roads in question, we should do everything we can to avoid them.