SOUTHERN Water’s scheme to replace a water main on a busy road near Winchester has been suspended for Christmas.

Work on the B3354 Main Road, Colden Common, stopped at the weekend and will resume on January 6.

A road closure will run north from the junction with Portsmouth Road B2177 at Fishers Pond to the roundabout junction with Church Lane.

The official diversion route for the closure in 2014 (from the north) will be: Otterbourne Road, Main Road, Otterbourne Hill, Allbrook Way, Woodside Avenue, Leigh Road, Romsey Road, Bishopstoke Road, Fair Oak Road, Alan Drayton Way, Eastleigh Road and Winchester Road.