8:00am Tuesday 17th November 2009
By Darren Slade
CALLS by retailers for the Spur Road roadworks to be put back until after Christmas look set to be rejected – because of laws protecting Dorset’s reptiles.
And if you think the traffic hold-ups are bad now, things are set to get worse next autumn when the six-month resurfacing project begins.
Yesterday hundreds of commuters were stuck in slow-moving traffic as they tried to get work including Tony Brown, chief executive of Beales in Bournemouth.
He said the work was being done in “eight weeks at the town’s busiest time of year”.
“It’s daft they are doing this at this time of year.
“I came down the Spur Road on Saturday. It was choc-a-block for about two or three miles of cones. The actual bit being used was about 150 yards.”
He added: “I would start mid to end-January, the slowest economic time of the year for the town,” he said.
But he urged people not to be put off visiting the town.
“Bournemouth is still open for business,” he said. “And you can park for £3 all day on a weekday.”
Steve Kent, chairman of Boscombe Traders Association, said the area had suffered a “horrendous” drop in trade from the combination of the A338 work and the closure of the Ashley Road railway bridge.
“To do it during the run-up to Christmas I think is totally mad,” he said.
But he added: “There are no delays in Boscombe. The car parks are available and people can use them.”
The council is looking at whether work can be stepped up to seven days a week.
Nigel Hedges, president of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce, welcomed the idea. He said: “I think most people do feel it’s going to be very painful for a long time and anything that can shorten the length of that pain has got to be a good thing.”
The current work involves clearing vegetation and trees, putting up fences to keep reptiles from the carriageway and carrying out surveys.
David Diaz, the council’s project manager, said the work had to be done while reptiles and smooth snakes were hibernating.
“We have to make sure once they reappear in the spring, all the essential works are done, otherwise we have great difficulty relocating them back into the verges,” he said.
He added: “We are governed by legislation as to how we treat these species of animals. Some of them are protected by European legislation as well.”
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