Aid for traders hit by tram work
A PLAN is to be drawn up to help businesses affected by a year-long road closure during tram work.
Sections of Chilwell Road, Beeston, are to close from March so that underground gas pipes can be moved.
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Worries: Licensees Richard and Jackie Fletcher outside the Chequers Inn, in Chilwell High Road. They are worried plans to close parts of nearby Chilwell Road, Beeston, for 12 months will kill off their business.
It has led some businesses on the road and in the surrounding area to voice concern about the impact on trade.
Now Beeston Business Improvement District is to monitor the number of customers in Chilwell Road and five other areas of Beeston from January to assess the impact of the tram work on visitor numbers.
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Business Improvement District manager Stephanie Wilkinson said she has held talks with Nottingham City Council about offering firms extra help.
A plan includes helping businesses set up websites to boost online trade, setting up a special website for Chilwell Road firms and holding markets in Beeston Square for traders on the road. She said: "The city council has made a commitment to work with us to ensure that people still go to Chilwell Road and people know how to get there.
The proposed road closures will be between Middle Street and Ellis Grove for six months, and then from Ellis Grove to Holly Lane for another six months from September 2013.
The original plan was for a one-way system for 18 months, but contractors Taylor Woodrow Alstom say the new proposal will be safer for workers and pedestrians.
Mr Fletcher, 41, said roadworks were already affecting trade. He said: "We were doing around £3,000 a week, but now it's around £1,300.
"It's okay saying we are going to be compensated but the businesses in the area have got to survive through the disruption and then claim for the compensation. The only saving grace is we have got Christmas coming up. After that, who knows? "
West End Surgery, Chilwell Road, said it was concerned about its doctors, nurses and 6,400 registered patients being able to get to and from appointments during the work.
Practice manager Debs Marsh said she had also informed Notts County PCT of the plans. She said: "We're right in the middle of the first closure. It's not clear what access is going to be like and how patients and staff can get here. We need a dialogue with them."
A spokesperson for Taylor Woodrow Alstom said: "We were very grateful to all of the businesses and traders who attended the meeting last week to discuss the forthcoming tram works along Chilwell Road.
"We appreciate that this is a worrying process and we are committed to doing all that we can to try and minimise the impact of these works."
He added: "The council has and will continue to work closely with the Beeston Business Improvement District and Broxtowe Borough Council on a range of measures, including destination branding and marketing initiatives which will support traders on Chilwell Road during the works."
People can get more information during a drop-in session at Beeston Town Hall, Foster Avenue, on Thursday, December 13, from 5.30pm until 8pm.
Will your business be affected by the works? Contact newsdesk on 0115 905 1967 or email newsdesk@nottinghampostgroup.co.uk.
Comments
by mof_gedling
Monday, December 10 2012, 12:49AM
“i would tend to agree with shekuls, there is stuff that should have been put in place ages ago and has still not been done,deadlines have already passed, it would be comical if it wasnt so serious,it seems like everyone else knows whats going on apart from the people who's job it is to know these things,i am not allowed to say anything more, if you want proof then just google it,”
by Neo_MadBadger
Sunday, December 09 2012, 6:15PM
“Where is the breakfast club? Road and building.”
by maria_31
Sunday, December 09 2012, 5:48PM
“i live right in the middle of these closures & have to drop off my little boy at his breakfast club the second they open to enable me to get to work on time. the breakfast club is near the council building meaning i will need to use a route 4 times the distance of my current one, and then take a longer route to work. meaning i will be late for work every day for as long as the closure is in existance. i can't take him any earlier, as the centre doesn't open any earlier. the business's on chilwell road will have no trade apart from those of us who live local and walk to them. its a complete turnaround of what they promised us when they decided on the tram”
by Neo_MadBadger
Sunday, December 09 2012, 1:18PM
“"I am sorry to inform you that behind closed doors, the figure of 22 months of closure is being stated...".
Ha ha aha ha ahhaha aha...you couldn't make it up!!!!
verb (stated, stating) 1 to express clearly, either in written or spoken form; to affirm or assert. 2 to specify.
Who on earth would trust the word of a clown who cannot even use the right verb! Yet claims that he is 'in the know'.
Truly laugahble!!!!!!”
by sandbagga
Sunday, December 09 2012, 12:01AM
“the longer this chaos goes on the worse it appears to be getting did anyone in those ivory towers ever consider the amount of time and money the normal person would waste stuck in endless traffic jams not to mention extra petrol and pollution normal travel times of 15 minutes beeston to nottingham are being quadrupled if the money they are spending on this white elaphant had been spent on roads and subsidising bus travel it still would work out cheaper and as much as i rack my brains i still cant understand why i as a working man should have to pay yet another tax to go to work”
by ShmuleShekels
Saturday, December 08 2012, 8:27PM
“I am sorry to inform you that behind closed doors, the figure of 22 months of closure is being stated as more likely. Whatever is agreed make sure there is a penalty clause for overrun!”
by digbypatch
Saturday, December 08 2012, 6:25AM
“Dunkirkpie
If I travel from Chilwell to nottingham on a bus it is £2.30 or a all day ticket for £8.00 or use the tram in Nottingham all day for £3.50.
I assume the tram prices from Beeston/Toton will be about the same amount when the line opens.”
by digbypatch
Saturday, December 08 2012, 6:11AM
“Forestmadlad
A few months a go the road was supposed to be made one way and only recently was it changed to closed in two places for a total of a year.”
by DunkirkPie
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 1:01PM
“I appreciate that the tram works are a bit disruptive but it will all be worth it in a few short years, when those who want to will be able from Beeston to Nottingham for a mere two or three times the price of the old bus fare.”
by forestmadlad
Wednesday, December 05 2012, 12:36PM
“A plan is now going to be drawn up for these businesses? Why wasn't this plan drawn up when the tram works were initially planned?
Once again this just highlights the shoddy planning that has gone in to these tram works and that the council do not give a monkeys about local residents and businesses. As long as they get their tram (which by the way i've still yet to hear anybody in Beeston say they want) they're happy.”