Traders hit out at lack of council notice

Traders are furious that they only received a few days' notice of a closure of a town's main street so a traffic calming scheme could be installed.

They said they received hand delivered letters on Friday informing them the five-day closure would start yesterday.

Council officers said they had followed normal procedure in notifying people about the works, although admitted they would have sent the letters out earlier if they hadn't been so busy with repairs of potholed roads caused by the winter's snow.

Alex Wilkinson, president of Wotton-under-Edge Chamber of Trade, said: "For Gloucestershire County Council to say that they followed the standard process is ridiculous. Letters hand delivered on a Friday saying the town's main street is going to be closed for five days as of the following Monday is just not acceptable, even if the closure is only partial.

"The same thing happened not long ago with another road in the town. Something has gone very wrong with the council's communication processes."

The council said it had advertised the work formally in press notices and would normally send letters to local residents and traders a week in advance of works starting but was tied up with potholed roads repairs.