Trade hit as roadworks cause mayhem

Long-running roadworks which started just days ago are wrecking trade in a Black Country town, traders say.

Shop owners in Cradley Heath fear their livelihoods are at risk as work on ageing water pipes will take three months to complete.

The work, which is being carried out by South Staffordshire Water, started on Monday. While it takes place a one-way system is in place along Reddal Hill Road and Upper High Street, and surrounding areas are closed to traffic. Queues of cars struggling to get through the town are causing chaos.

Some shops which benefited from parking bays outside their frontages have seen these temporarily coned off. They now worry that shoppers will avoid trying to find somewhere to park and will instead just drive elsewhere.

Warren Rudge, owner of Ivans fish and chip shop in Reddal Hill Road, said trade was already down about 50 per cent.

"It's already affecting trade a lot and the parking bays are coned off so people have to drive through cones to get into the parking bays," he said.

"It's here to stay and we are in a mess. We usually have car parking directly outside the shop, people can park and walk, but I don't think they will."

Janice Stokes, owner of Panache dress agency in the High Street, said: "It's appalling. Because of the roadworks everywhere there are queues of traffic and no-one can get into Cradley Heath, it's quite bad.

"The shop has been pretty quiet at the moment. We've had one customer in this morning who had to walk a mile to get into town. We will be struggling."

Sue Weston from John Jones Footwear in Upper High Street, added: "It's a pain, an absolute nightmare. How are we going to survive? We are only just surviving as it is.

"I've only had one customer and she got here in a taxi because she couldn't get the bus here."

South Staffordshire Water said they have worked with the council to come up with a system that would create minimum disruption.