Bus services have been reduced and single carriageway roads swamped as a business warned a nine-week road closure causing problems was a ‘final nail in the coffin’.
Burmor Construction has been allowed to close Surfleet Road in Pinchbeck for nine weeks to install a new sewer system for the homes it is building.
A diversion using the A16 is advertised, but Gary Slator, the owner of Birchgrove Garden Centre on the road, said:
“This road closure is just another nail in the coffin for local businesses like ours, as people are not going to travel an extra five miles if they are coming from Spalding or Pinchbeck to shop here,” he said.
“We have already been hit hard by last year’s National Insurance hikes for employers and the increase in the National Minimum Wage, and we can’t keep taking hit after hit and be expected to keep going.
“It feels as though the authorities who have given the go-ahead for this road closure have given no thought to the effect it will have on us – or just don’t care.
“If customers choose not to come to Birchgrove, it could have a serious impact on the business and jobs going forward.”
Meanwhile bus routes have faced lengthy diversions, with the B3 service missing out both Gosberton and Surfleet entirely before heading into Pinchbeck via Wardentree Lane. The B9 will serve those villages but only pick up students in Pinchbeck from The Bull.
Jennifer Hemingway said she and fellow Pinchbeck residents will now have to walk ‘a good half a mile’ to the nearest bus stop still operating.
“I don’t think it’s something we should have to put up with,” she said. “We have to walk so far in the cold just to get public transport. We had all better pray that there are no accidents on the A16.”
Roadworks are planned for the A16 from January 7 to 16 but Lincolnshire County Council says temporary traffic lights will operate at night.
Richard Paul, streetworks and permitting manager at LCC said: “It simply isn’t safe to carry out these works under any other form of traffic management than a road closure.
“We have undertaken a thorough review with the developer and their contractor to ensure the programme of works is as robust as possible. Having undertaken that review, there are no reasonable opportunities to shorten the road closure duration.
“To reduce overall impact, the closure period has been scheduled to allow the developer to complete multiple tasks like putting in a path, streetlights and other elements. By doing this around six weeks of additional disruption has been saved.”
There have been reports of people using Crossgate and Milestone Lane, which are only wide enough for one vehicle at a time.
Mr Paul said that signage has been placed ‘to deter vehicles from using these routes’’ and it has asked the developer to increase the amount of signage.
