JOHN Street business owner Alison Lawson says the news council’s contractor Diona has agreed to work on Saturdays is a step in the right direction.
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The “specialists in complex urban projects” are working on the $11 million Town Centre Revitalisation Project, and the improvements range from extending footpath areas to the installation of modern street furniture.
Unfortunately, the scope the work is disrupting traffic along, and pedestrian access to, the main street.
As a result business owners are recording huge losses and struggling to stay afloat.
Earlier this month, distressed retailers organised a forum-style meeting to discuss the dilemma directly with council staff and local councillors.
Many questions were asked and suggestions made; one of them was to hasten the pace of the work.
In response, Singleton Council’s contractors Diona will start working Saturdays across both stages as required to ensure the project stays on schedule and work will also continue during the week between 7am and 6pm.
“We are pleased with the progress of work in both stages but it only takes a few days or more of poor weather to have a significant impact on what is already an extremely tight schedule,” council’s assistant general manager Gary Thomson says.
“To ensure we stay ahead of the game Diona has agreed to work Saturdays.
“We have reached some critical points in the construction zones, such as laying the new paving, cobble stones and kerb stones that will demand additional time and resources.
“Saturday work will be conducted between 8am and 3pm, however, the use of loud plant and equipment will be avoided wherever possible in the earlier hours.”
Mrs Lawson, who helped to organise the discussion with council, says this is good news.
“It is definitely a step in the right direction, working Saturday mornings will speed the process up so we can get back to some kind of normality,” she says.
“Hopefully this means they will take more of our suggestions on board, including reducing the number of pedestrian crossings.
“At the moment it looks like there will be a total of seven in the area.
“These combined with traffic calming measures, are going to frustrate drivers as they will be continually stopping and starting.”
She says at long last they are listening but a lot of this could have been avoided if the council had agreed to the two extra weeks of consultation before the plan was passed.
Concerned retailers will meet with council again on Tuesday, March 3, at 6.30pm.
The meeting will take place at Singleton Diggers and Mrs Lawson says, hopefully, they will get all their questions answered.