Sponsored by
Traders anger at Bridlington road closures
ROAD closures and continued improvement work on South Marine Drive have been met with dismay by local business owners.
The road was closed between the Lifeboat Station and the southern extent of Pembroke Gardens on Monday and is not expected to re-open until the end of March.
This follows on from the work on roads and pavements which has seen upheaval for the past two years.
Alan Jackson, who owns the Marina Cafe, in South Marine Drive, said the upheaval is "severely hurting" his business.
He says he is one of the few business owners in the area who believe the development will be a good thing when it is completed but believes traders should have received more help from the council.
"It is horrendous to be honest, it is seriously affecting trade.
"We have a situation where between us and the spa we have six barriers. People are getting stuck in the maze of walkways, they are intimidating," said Alan, who has owned the business for more than five years.
"We regularly see them stopping then looking over at the cafe and wondering how to get across the street.
"There is so much competition further into town that once people have got through the barriers they are much closer to the town centre and just choose another cafe there.
"The barriers and temporary traffic lights have been going on in one form or another for two and a half years and we are having to use our savings because the turnover has been so bad.
"When the road is finished we'll have lost our parking spaces as well, so people that can't walk far and would drive here won't be able to park.
"People don't want to be parking out at Carnaby.
"Fundamentally, parking is the biggest issue in Bridlington that needs addressing.
"Even when the road gets back to normal, we may have lost all of our local business.
"There has been no real consultation from the council, the seminars they have at the Spa are just to pacify people. Last week we had two people in the cafe, one from Halls the contractor and another from the council.
"They said my drop in business is because of the bad weather and the recession, without taking into account the difficulty people have in just getting to the cafe. It's insulting.
"It's just annoying that we don't seem to get any help from the council. You get bounced from one department to another.
"It would be nice if we could get a refund off the business rates I've been paying because the situation has affected trade."
Mr Jackson also recently paid for about 8,000-worth of new block paving around the cafe, which will now be dug up and replaced as part of the Spa scheme.
He claims he had to notify the council about this early last year when the work was carried out and is unhappy that the council’s plans have changed since then, meaning his investment is now effectively a waste of money.
Lisa Castleton, who runs Marine Drive News, in South Marine Drive, also believes the work has affected business.
She said: “It is hard to say but I think the work will keep affecting us, especially as we will have no parking spaces.
“We were told a couple of months ago the parking was going to be removed. They just told us that it was going to happen.
“It will definitely affect trade.”
A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “The council has given people extensive notice of the works now taking place in the Spa area of Bridlington and we are working with businesses to ease the impact of the works.
“They are being undertaken at the least busy time of year outside the holiday season and the council is looking to have everything operational by Easter.”
There had also been concerns that the road closure would affect the launch of the lifeboat at Bridlington RNLI in South Marine Drive but a fenced compound provided by contractor Halls will enable the boat to be ready for launch. The lifeboat station on the Spa foreshore will also be unaffected.
Andy Brompton, from Bridlington Lifeboat Station, said: “As far as launching is concerned we do not think it is going to affect our launch times at all.
“The contractor and the council have been calling in and liasing with us and when we have had launches and excercises they have came down to make sure they do not get in our way.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bridlington
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: -0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -4 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: South
