North Yorkshire businesses being "destroyed" by road closure
A stretch of the A59 at Kex Gill closed in February because of a landslide
Businesses in North Yorkshire say they are furious work to a repair a major road still hasn't started, 8 weeks after it was closed.
The stretch of the A59 at Kex Gill between Skipton and Blubberhouses shut in February because of a landslide. North Yorkshire Council say it will reopen "before the end of June".
"We are slowly dying"
Paul Mark is a butcher MacKenzie's smoke house and says it's having a devastating impact: "It's slowly destroying us. I was a full time butcher here and now I'm down to two days a week, our restaurant is doing probably 50% at least less than it was doing this time last year."
"A lot of our customers come from Otley, from Skipton, Ilkley but they are just not prepared to go through the roadworks. It means we are slowly dying and we've had to lay staff off."
"Something needs to be done urgently, otherwise livelihoods are going to be lost and jobs are going to be lost."
"We're still here open normal hours, we're still providing all the services that we used to, we just need the support, we need the support of the locals and the people that have used us in the past."
In a statement the Council say: 'We have appointed contractors to complete a £750,000 repair scheme. There will be extended hours and night working to allow the road to be reopened before the end of June.
The road, which runs across a rural stretch of the county on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is deemed to be one of the most important strategic routes nationally as it provides a key link running across the country.
The route closed in February after a crack appeared in the verge as a result of poor weather over the past few months.
February was one of the wettest on record and the persistent rainfall has continued to make the situation worse, with further movement since the start of the closure – something that has been substantiated by geologists.
Kex Gill has a history of landslips, so a multi-million pound scheme has been launched to create a new three-mile stretch of road. However, the existing road had to be closed again after the latest landslip.
"We sincerely apologise for the disruption".
North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of environment, Karl Battersby, said: “We appreciate that the closure of the A59 is having a significant impact on businesses, commuters and residents, and we sincerely apologise for this disruption.
“Our contractors have started preparatory work and will be working extended hours and potentially night working to allow the road to be reopened before the end of June.
“In the meantime, we are speaking to individual local businesses to see if they would like general business advice. We will keep the public updated as work progresses.”