THE boss of Beales has said Bournemouth town centre has been “seriously let down” by highways chiefs over the A338 roadworks.

He said visitor numbers in the resort were down and that the rebuilding of the Spur Road was causing more disruption than necessary.

Stuart Lyons, executive chairman of the Bournemouth-based department store chain, acknowledged the nine-month, £22million rebuild of the Spur Road was important.

But he added: “I think the people and businesses of Bournemouth are being seriously let down because Dorset County Council has shown a great disregard of the interests of commuters and business.

"People are not able to get into work unless they come in at unreasonable hours. Customers are going to Southampton and Salisbury and once a customer has a good experience in Southampton or an out-of-town shopping centre, it will take time to bring them back to Bournemouth when the work is complete.”

Mr Lyons, who advised MP Tim Yeo when he was shadow transport secretary, said the roadworks could have been done without so many miles of cones.

He revealed that Beales, which was taken over this year, had enjoyed its best June trading for 20 years.

“We’re very happy with the way Beales is moving – but I’m very worried for Bournemouth as a whole because there’s no doubt from our own figures that we’re getting many fewer customers from out of town than we expected,” he said.

Tim Norman, Dorset County Council's network development service manager, said groups and meetings had been set up to update those affected by the A338 work.

"These groups and meetings are continuing throughout the project on a regular basis. We are also using a blog and social media to communicate to news agencies and individuals,” he said.

"We have to keep a balance with keeping the road open and getting the works done as quickly as possible."

Bournemouth council leader John Beesley said his authority was on a steering group set up by Dorset County Council over the roadworks.

“You could have done it over a longer period so the disruption would have gone on longer and would have been lessened but others would have criticised us for that,” he said.

“We could have had a more concentrated process that would have made the disruption greater over a shorter period of time.

“We tried to choose a time of the year that would have caused less disruption. There’s no right answer to this.”

He said he was a motorist and understood Mr Lyons’s frustration. “While I’ve got huge sympathy with what he’s saying, it’s difficult to see how we can achieve the result in a better way,” he added.

Read more about progress on returning Beales to profit in Monday's business page.

For all our stories and coverage on the Spur Road, visit bournemouthecho.co.uk/a338