A water company boss says heavy vehicles and buses may have caused damage to a road used as a diversion.

This is despite council claims that a water leak is “entirely unrelated” to the extra traffic.

Southern Water chief operating officer Bob Collington wrote to Brighton MP Caroline Lucas saying that heavy vehicles “may have played a part” in a mains failure which has blocked Upper North Street for repairs.

However, Brighton and Hove City Council has repeatedly denied that the extra bus traffic caused the damage despite similar leaks popping up on other diversion routes.

In the letter to Ms Lucas, Mr Collington said: “The additional traffic or weight of vehicles coupled with the failing road surface may have played a part in the mains fitting failure, however, this would be difficult to confirm.”

He said Southern Water had worked with the council to agree a longer closure to the road, which The Argus understands has been extended to June 9.

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Repair works on the road were originally scheduled to be done by May 5 but remain unfinished.

The letter also said that between 2019 and 2023 only one leak had previously been reported on the road.

A concerned member of the public said: “Days and days go by with no trucks or workers and there is garbage in some of the holes.

“This has been very disruptive. It’s still a big problem but often there’s no one there.”

Previously, the council said the original water leak had “nothing to do with the recent use of the road as a bus diversion” during the improvement works in Western Road.

The council doubled down on the remarks after a similar leak was spotted on a new diversion route in Montpelier Road, saying the leaks were “entirely unrelated” to the buses.

Services heading eastbound in Western Road are currently being diverted along Montpelier Road and through Seven Dials before returning to their normal routes at Churchill Square.

Brighton and Hove City Council was approached for comment in response to the letter.