Ulverston cobbles makeover set to resume
Last updated at 16:38, Sunday, 02 September 2012
CONTROVERSIAL work to repair a cobbled town centre street is due to resume next month – after a hiatus of more than a year.
Work to relay the cobbles along Ulverston’s Market Street proved unpopular last year after causing disruption to the town’s traders.
The job, which was supposed to last three weeks, was delayed by more than a month and then dragged on for 16 weeks before being stopped to prevent it disrupting the Easter holiday.
One trader, Lynne Watson, said she fears the work will have a negative impact on businesses in the town.
Her store, the Mad Hatter’s Tea rooms, is along the stretch of road where the work will take place.
She said: “It was chaos last time. It will damage trade because I have no pavement on my side of the road. It is our money that the council is paying them with, but we are losing money as a small business – they don’t seem to care.”
The work, which is due to begin on October 1, will affect the area of Market Street between Brogden Street and the Evening Mail office on the corner of Union Street.
However, the county council has said it hopes to learn from last time and avoid the delays that blighted the first phase of the job.
A spokeswoman said: “To do it all in one phase would have been too long a period of disruption for businesses. We will do what we can to get it over and done with as soon as possible.”
She added that even if the work takes longer than planned, there is no chance of it interfering with the Dickensian festival at the end of November.
She said a Christmas embargo prevents such work carrying on past mid-November.
In the event the work is not completed by then, the council would either have to take the decision to shorten the job or extend it into a third phase starting in 2013.
Chairman of the Ulverston Traders’ Association Ralph Spours said: “Ulverston traders, as always, will overcome these difficulties.”
First published at 13:06, Sunday, 02 September 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
They should wait until Sainsbury's open up, then there'll be nothing in the town to disrupt!!
Have your say
frankly the cobbles they put back look horrendous! Cobbles are NOT meant to all look exactly the same as the next one, yet the clowns doing the 'restoration' of them have done exactly that to them.
BORE.
Posted by Cynic on 13 September 2012 at 21:27