Shopkeepers upset as gas project hits trade

Angry traders claim business has plummeted due to traffic chaos caused by works to replace old gas pipes beneath a usually busy high street.

Temporary traffic lights have been installed along Quarry Bank High Street while the work, expected to another five weeks, is carried out by National Grid Transco.

But traders say the measures are sparking major tailbacks back to the Thorns Road in one direction and beyond Forge Lane, towards Cradley Heath, in the other.

And some say even regular customers are avoiding coming into the High Street because of all the safety barriers in place while the gas works are taking place.

Trader John Walker, who has run Hawthorne and Walker butchers for 35 years, said weekend trade had been affected particularly badly since the work started last month.

"Compared to the same time last year we were down around 30 per cent for the first weekend in March which is significant drop in trade," he said.

"Quite simply people do not want to wait in these traffic queues to come to the shops and are avoiding it.

"Even some of the customers who usually walk to the High Street are not coming in because it so difficult to negotiate all the barriers.

"With the economic conditions as they are you simply cannot afford to lose custom like this. It is making things really difficult."

Mr Walker said shops in the area had been offered compensation for trade lost but said it would be a "rigmarole" to go about it.

"We have been told the entire scheme will take 13 weeks but in just over three it has had a terrible impact on trade."

National Grid Transco is carrrying out the work.

Spokesman Jane Taylor said: "We are around half-way through the project now and the temporary traffic lights are to remain at their present location for another week.

"Before work started we met with traders and explained what would be happening."