Trade hit as road dug up for gas works

GAS main Chaos . . . the view looking up New Street from High Street

Beleaguered shopkeepers say major gas works are damaging lucrative summertime business.

At the end of the first week of the gas main renewal, Uppermill shopkeepers say takings have dipped because motorists are prevented from parking near their shops.

The operation, which involves temporary one-way traffic, switches to New Street and Bolton’s Yard on Monday for a further two weeks. Smithy Lane is part of the one-way system.

Oldham’s Unity Partnership issued warnings of disruption, but shopkeepers say it comes just as business is recovering from the siting of temporary traffic lights at Brownhills Bridge — which was severely damaged by a water burst and closed for more than a year.

The village will be busy from today and over the weekend with the Saddleworth Wartime Weekend, with motorists already complaining of delays in the village centre.

Ian Scholes, who owns J W Buckley’s premises on New Street and High Street, said: “Our takings at New Street have not been enough to cover staff wages this week.

“August is our busiest time but these works have knocked us sideways. The bollards for the road works are so close to the door people are tripping over them.

“Yellow lines in the village should be temporarily suspended to allow customers the freedom to park and shop.”

Paul Lowcock, of Paul’s Quality Meats, on the High Street-New Street junction, said: “It’s been a tough week. The sooner the work is completed the better for everyone.”

And greengrocer Graham Bearpark declared: “It’s not good. We have had two bad days and we are all struggling with deliveries.”

A spokesman for Unity Partnership’s traffic engineering department said they are aware of the problems and had a “lot of heartache and soul-searching” to find a strategy to tackle the job.

“We are really conscious of the impact on businesses and traffic in the immediate vicinity.”