Shop owners are demanding compensation from a council for lost trade while roadworks are carried out.

They claim they have lost business since the Church Street and High Street junction in Uckfield, has been blocked, forcing motorists to take a two-mile detour to move from one road to the other.

They believe sales have dropped considerably because shoppers are no longer driving past.

Nicki Macdonald, owner of Pebbles and Bam Bam, in Church Street, said: "I only sold one item last Thursday and one item on Friday. People have told me they are staying away until the works end."

Newsagent Bernie Randall, who has a shop at the top of the High Street, said he had also lost trade.

He said: "Its like cutting a third of our customers off."

Several Church Street shopkeepers said they would be approaching East Sussex County Council to demand compensation for the trade they had lost.

Trevor Morton, owner of S.A.U.K. in Church Street, said he was annoyed at the lack of warning shopkeepers had received. He planned to contact Wealden MP Charles Hendry and the county council.

He said: "We weren't told it would be like this. We received a letter telling us roadworks were being carried out but they never told us Church Street would be closed."

Claire Dowling, Wealden district councillor for central Uckfield, urged the highways department to try to find a way to finish the work sooner - or at the least reopen the junction at weekends.

Mrs Dowling said: "It affects an awful lot of people, not just the residents on the west side of the High Street who have been cut off. The queues are causing problems for everyone in Uckfield."

She said she appreciated the need for the work but hoped it could be finished faster.

The roadworks are expected to finish at the end of August, with a short break next weekend (July 8 - 10) for the opening events of the Uckfield Festival.

Work will be extended along the High Street as far as Library Way during that period.

Mrs Macdonald said she was disappointed Church Street traders had not been invited to meetings between the highways department and Uckfield town representatives when the roadworks schedule was agreed. Uckfield Chamber of Commerce was given a say in the plans at the final meeting after expressing its concern with the initial proposals.

Chamber member Mark Arno said: "Any disruption is too much of a disruption for those concerned."

He said the roadworks would make Church Street and the northern part of the High Street more accessible to pedestrians, adding: "Hopefully the traders there will eventually reap the benefits."

A county council spokeswoman said its original plan had been to keep the junction open during the roadworks.

The decision to close the entrance to Church Street was only taken once it became clear the safety of workers and pedestrians would be jeopardised by larger vehicles negotiating the turn into the road.

She said the road should reopen within three to four weeks.

June 30, 2005