A HUDDERSFIELD shop owner has claimed that roadworks are deterring customers.

Improvements being made to Northgate, in Almondbury, are set to last longer than expected.

The Lollipop Tree has only been open for 21 months – but for five months, staff and customers have contended with road and pavement closures, which they say have “deterred pedestrians and affected trade.”

Business owner Gillian Starke said she understands that the work is set to improve the village . But, she blamed a “culture of idleness” in the council’s workforce for the delay.

And she is concerned that “rows of empty, boarded up shops” will result from the slow pace of work.

She said: “We recognise that the work being done is set to improve the village, however our issue is with the speed that it is being done.

“The council workmen seem to have no thought for the independent traders whose business they’re disrupting.

“The workmen get paid for their 37-hour week regardless of progress – we only get paid if brave, intrepid customers venture across the ‘bomb-site’ to visit our shops.

“Yes, this end of our lovely conservation village will look beautiful when it’s done but will all the customers be so sick of battling through closed roads, contraflows, orange barriers and building sites they will never return?

“How lovely will it look with rows of empty, boarded-up shops as a feature?

“I thought that councils were supposed to be supporting a return to the traditional British High Street and local trade?

“Well, not in Kirklees that’s for sure.”

Her partner Donna Farrand said that they constantly have to clean dust from their shop and their clients, who mainly comprise parents of young children in buggies and the elderly can not easily make it through the rubble.

The work, which began in the first week of March, is the final stage of the Almondbury enhancement scheme.

Residents and businesses were told it would take eight to ten weeks but they recently received a letter which claimed work would not be completed till the first week in June.

It is set to improve the amenity area in front of the flats and shops at the Fenay Lane end of Northgate.

It includes a wider flight of steps down to the shops from Northgate with decorative handrails, reshaping and re-paving of the existing paved area including wider level paving to enable outdoor seating and a better view of the shops from Northgate.

The current seating will be revamped and retaining walls will be constructed between the paved areas and the new grassed area while gentle sloping grass banks are set to replace the existing flower beds.

Clr Linda Wilkinson said: “This is the final stage of the Almondbury Enhancement Scheme, which will greatly improve the access to the shops in the long run.

“The completed stages have already given the area a lift.

“I am sorry that the work has taken longer than expected, however there was a very bad patch of rain during April.

“I would urge any business who has suffered financial loss to contact the council with evidence of this.

“We hope that it will be finished by June 3,” she said.