VIDEO: Chichester footpath closure prompts safety fears

The closure outside the Santorini restaurant at Southgate is due to work by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and follows firefighters being called to the location last night.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue confirmed a unit was called at 6.48pm and was on scene until 7.26pm.

The cause of the work is due to a faulty underground cable, a spokesman for SSEN confirmed today.

They added that SSEN was alerted at 3.30pm yesterday afternoon and that engineers isolated the electricity supply to approximately 55 properties as a result.

"All customers affected had their supplies restored by 9.40pm last night," the spokesman added, stating that engineers worked through the night to locate and repair the cause of the power cut which was due to an underground cable fault.

In the last 45 minutes traffic management are reported to have put a lane closure and pedestrian diversions in place, the spokesman said the work is estimated to be competed by 4pm and the pathway will then be reopened as usual before full repairs are undertaken after the Easter weekend.

A mum who had to walk in the road with baby in pushchair before the measures were put in place, said: "Not very clever is it?"

The spokesperson for SSEN added: “We would like to thank local residents for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience as our teams carry out emergency repairs to resolve an underground cable fault in the area. We’d also like to apologise to customers affected last night as we worked to restore their power as quickly and as safely as possible.”