Residents in Poole and Bournemouth face travel disruption after a sewer pipe collapsed on Fernside Road on 9 February 2026. The damage forced the immediate closure of a section of Fernside Road between the Hunt Road and Parkstone Road junctions, near the St Mary’s Road junction, and the closure is expected to remain in place while emergency repairs are carried out; official estimates indicate work will take at least two weeks.
morebus confirmed that the m1, m2, 15, 401, 443 and 941 services are being diverted to avoid the affected section. Buses are being routed via Parkstone Road and Longfleet Road in different combinations depending on service, and morebus’s service notices show that some stops — including the ‘Colleges’ and ‘North Road’ stops — will not be served while the closure is in place. Transport estimates indicate diversions add around 15–25 minutes to peak-time journeys.
Wessex Water teams are on site assessing and repairing the sewer. Wessex Water and the research briefing for this incident say significant excavation is required because of the depth of the sewer, and that the repair work will be substantial; work is therefore expected to take at least two weeks.
BCP Council highways teams are managing the traffic response, including adjusting traffic signal timings on diversion routes to help reduce bottlenecks around nearby colleges and Poole Hospital. Parents have been advised in transport guidance that some school services (notably the 443 and 941 school specials) may be scheduled up to around 20 minutes earlier for morning pickups to help keep services running to timetable. Residents are being encouraged to check the morebus service updates and to use the morebus app for real-time tracking before they travel.
The Fernside Road collapse follows a similar sewer failure on Ringwood Road in January 2026 that caused prolonged disruption. Authorities say the cluster of failures in early 2026 has increased pressure on local road and sewer networks and that further investigation into the condition of older Victorian-era pipes in the area is ongoing.
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