A REQUEST for an extension to the Christmas break for the roadworks at Poole’s Hunger Hill junction has been turned down.

The town’s Business Improvement District (BID) wrote to the council to ask for the works to pause from mid-December until January 7.

Tweeting on Tuesday, the BID said the retail sector “needs every assistance possible to have a successful Christmas trading period”.

However, contractors will not be stopping work until Christmas Eve, as planned, resuming on January 8.

Work will be carried out under peak hour conditions from December 10-24, as previously reported.

Cllr Ian Potter, cabinet portfolio holder for transportation, planning and regeneration, said the BID’s concerns had been taken “very seriously”.

“We have received a letter from Poole BID regarding the major improvement scheme at Townside and the impact this may have on Christmas trade.

“I have liaised with officers and the contractor to discuss the options being considered to alleviate the potential difficulty for shoppers in the run up to Christmas. I can confirm that we plan to further reduce the scale of the works with ‘peak hour only’ working in place all day from 10 December to 24 December, meaning the majority of traffic lanes will remain open. Work will continue to be carried out in the area but will have minimal impact on traffic. No work is planned for the period 24 December and 7 January 2019.”

“As well as providing free Christmas parking in town centre car parks on selected days in November and December, the Council will also be providing free public park and ride on the last four Saturdays before Christmas. We hope this offer will attract shoppers into the town centre.”

Adam Keen, chairman of Poole BID, said: “We’re pleased to hear the update from the Borough of Poole that the Christmas shopping period is being taken into account when planning activity on site.

“As the BID we have an obligation to more than 500 businesses in Poole to raise concerns about any possible impact on the high street.

“Christmas is a hugely important time for retailers and the easing of roadworks will help with this. We’d still advise people to leave a bit of extra time for their journeys, but it sounds as if it will be more manageable for shoppers.”

It follows a similar bid to pause the works on the A338 Spur Road earlier than the planned date of December 10.

A meeting between Bournemouth council representatives and business leaders was held to discuss ways to limit the impact of the roadworks on the festive shopping period.

It was agreed that planned lane closures which coincided with the town’s Christmas Tree Wonderland in November were postponed.

After the meeting, it was also decided the works could be put on hold earlier in December “dependent on current works being sufficiently accelerated”.

Tony Brown, chief executive of department store Beales, has fiercely criticised the simultaneous timing of the Hunger Hill and A338 Spur Road schemes and has raised concerns over the impact on Poole and Bournemouth’s Christmas trading period.

Reiterating his concerns, he said: “I have made it clear in writing and on a call with the leader of the council and the chairmen of the LEP that Christmas in retail is not the two weeks before, it’s part of October and mostly all of November.”

Poole council’s head of growth and infrastructure, Julian McLaughlin, has previously explained that Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which has funded the works, has a timescale from government to complete the project by 2021.

The work to completely reconfigure Hunger Hill junction forms part of the wider Townside scheme, which aims to support the future expansion of the Port of Poole, as well as the development anticipated in Hamworthy and West Quay Road.