Just months after work causing traffic chaos in Romsey town centre was completed neighbours are bracing themselves for yet more misery.

Residents in a Church Lane fear they will endure a motoring nightmare when weeks of workmen close their street for four weeks on Monday (February 15).

Parents will be forced to find other ways to get their children to and from school and parking spaces, which are already high in demand around Church Lane, will be cut off.

In work costing more than £150,000, the road is being torn up to improve the road surface and bring the area “up to scratch”.

It is similar to the work along nearby Church Street last year to make it more pedestrianised, which saw businesses fear for their livelihood.

Residents in Church Lane complained that the road was turned into “a rat run” when motorists were diverted down it while work was done on Church Street, which runs parallel to it.

Since those works they have found that more traffic has been heading down their quiet street.

Now residents fear motorists will drive their cars down the single-track but dual-way road and find there is nowhere to turn around as they make their way through the town centre.

They fear that queues of cars will be backing up down the narrow street.

Resident Chris Ode said: “We have suffered a lot of inconvenience over the years, most seriously when they were doing these work on Church Street. We understand that some disruption is inevitable but we’re the people that live in this street.”

There will be no access from Mill Lane at the top of the road to The Abbey, which leads off Church Lane, which will be cut off.

A spokesman from Test Valley Borough Council, which is doing the work in conjunction with Hampshire County Council, said there won’t be access to the public parking bays on the road.

The spokesman said: “There other areas down The Abbey and The Meads and there are pay-and-display parks nearby.”

Only those residents with private driveways and parents of school children with a disability who go to Romsey Abbey CE Primary School will be allowed access.

Louise Rosen, headteacher at Romsey Abbey CE Primary School said it would have been better to do the work during the summer holidays.

She said: “It’s going to be really, really hard. Timing it around school holidays would have made it easier.”

“I think [the council] have to be really clear with their signage. People are going to try and come up there and get stuck. What if you’re following the route on your satnav?”

She added that there were some children who come from Southampton to her school, sometimes in taxis.

“It’s already causing problems, some parents are travelling from far away,” she said.

One resident, Chris Ode, who relies on street parking, said: “We just feel that steadily over the years ... our feelings have been looked over, our facilities for parking have squeezed.

“We may have to park a good distance from our homes. It’s another issue that could have been handled more sensitively.”

His wife Imogen said: “The residents pay to park on the street but they haven’t told us where we can go to park.”

Town Centre manager Mark Edgerley said: “It’s going to have to be closed to everybody other than residents. Some of the residents will have to find somewhere else to park.”

He added: “All the households along Church Lane and the ones in Mill Lane are likely to be impacted.”

The entire project surrounds the area known as the Romsey Pleasure Ground, a protected green space to the west of Romsey Abbey.

“The road is being brought up to scratch, the paving is a bit uneven, it’s going to look like Church Street when it’s finished,” Mark said.

Pauline Walsh has a driveway for her car, said: “If they’re improving the road that’s good. It’s always been piecemeal, elderly people can fall over very easily. But can’t they do something to at least find a place where people can put their cars? I’m aware that it’s very difficult to park here.”

The spokesman for Test Valley Borough Council added: “We try to avoid doing the work during the school term where possible. It is inconvenient, it’s going to take several weeks, but it will be open again for Easter.”