Roadworks have uncovered a failure in a stretch of Swindon road forcing the council to unexpectedly shut it to motorists. 

Bristol Street, Sheppard Street and London Street will remain closed until Thursday afternoon. 

The dangerous fault was discovered as part of wider work to improve the Railway Village, which started on Monday. 

Initially, the stretch of road being worked on was only supposed to be closed overnight, but this has changed following the discovery. 

A Swindon Borough Council spokesperson said: "The roads were closed on Monday night to allow our contractor to improve the road surface but, during the work, it became apparent that additional essential repairs need to be made to the concrete road base before the new tarmac can be laid.

"This will ensure the new road surface remains in good condition for years to come.

"The roads aim to be completely reopened by Thursday afternoon, June 13, with no further closures anticipated.

"Diversions are in place and we’d like to thank everyone for their patience while the work is carried out."

The Advertiser understands that the contractor working on the area, Fergal Contracting Co. Ltd, was plaining off concrete sections of the road when they discovered a 'significant area of failure'. 

This meant that excavation was needed to remove the stretch of road in question before it could be properly resurfaced. 

Contractors did not know at the time the extent and depth of the failure, and would only know how much material they needed to replace after excavating.

Local transport companies were told and access to the Railway Station and nearby parking remain in place. 

As part of the ongoing works to improve the historic area, Swindon Borough Council made the announcement over the weekend that Bristol Street, Sheppard Street and London Street would be closing overnight from Monday, June 10 to Saturday, June 15.

A council spokesperson said: "The road closure will begin at 8pm each day and will reopen at 6am the following morning.

"We expect the closures to be in place until Saturday morning, however, this may be extended should additional work be required."

London Street and Sheppard Street will see the bulk of the £3 million improvements, which include trees planted in Sheppard Street, a pocket park created outside the Sheppard Street underpass, drainage improvements to both underpasses and a new creative lighting design for the Sheppard Street underpass.

This started on September 25 last year.