The price of Stenhouse Street roadworks

Published 25 Jan 2012 08:00 2 Comments

A COWDENBEATH shopkeeper this week claimed that roadworks in the town have put him in deep financial trouble.

Fazal Muhmood (pictured at the door of his business) was told in November by Fife Council that Beath Stores, in Stenhouse Street, would face being affected by the roadworks for three weeks.

But eight weeks on he is still finding trade under pressure by the re-surfacing of this main road through the town.

The 30 year-old told the Times, "I was hoping that the work would be finished by early December but I still find the temporary traffic lights popping up outside my shop which totally kills the passing trade which is so vital to my business."

The Stenhouse Street road surface has been needing attention for some time and the local authority set aside three weeks for work on this main bus route.

However, Mr Muhmood is perplexed at the length of time that the project has taken and feels that he deserves some compensation for having his trade so badly affected.

He added, "I found the lights placed in the vicinity of the shop for about three weeks which was a real body blow for business.

"Around 90 per cent of our trade is in the passing category and this came just before Christmas time which hammered cash flow.

"I contacted Fife Council and was told that the transportation department would get back to me but I am still waiting for their response.

"What it is all added up to is that over this period takings have been reduced by 75 per cent and it has left me struggling to cover utility bills and a VAT demand.

"While I realised that there would be some disruption from the roadworks I never imagined it would be on the scale that has developed and I feel that I should be eligible for some sort of compensation."

Alistair Donald, of the Transportation Department, said that the original project was expected to take three weeks, however, several circumstances had thrown themselves up which had prolonged the work.

He went on, "Checks are regularly made on the surface of the road we are working on and these detected that more work was needed to bring Stenhouse Street up to standard.

"We also discovered that the water tobies on the stretch of road were very old and needed to be replaced which has also added time onto the project.

"The weather is also an element and cold spells since the re-instatement scheme started have also meant delays and on top of that we had the two week festive break.

"However, we plan to complete the Stenhouse Street reinstatement by 27th January."

Mr Donald added, "We have regularly updated Mr Muhmood and I can also say that the temporary traffic lights were only near his shop for a short period of time."

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• 

  My Humps
  Unregistered User
  Jan 25, 12:48
  Report comment

  Sounds like the planninganticipation from the contractors of this job was woefully inadequate. Jeremy Clarkson has a good solution for all involved .....
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

• 

  Joseph
  Unregistered User
  Jan 29, 12:51
  Report comment

  It is very easy to blame the contractor but when will Fife Council actually take responsibility for these things and do their job? It is as if they dont care about business and yet without local business Cowdenbeath will be a much poorer place
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 0

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