Published: Thursday, 12th November, 2009 12:00am
Cross Arthurlie Street work will turn us into 'ghost town'
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ANGRY Cross Arthurlie Street shop owners are furious that road works there will take five months to complete.
The improvement to the road and pavements will start in January but the businesses on the street cannot understand why they will take so long.
Last month, the Barrhead News reported how the street traders forced bungling East Renfrewshire Council beaks to cancel carrying out the road works in the run up to Christmas.
But now they have been told the work which will start in January is likely to take until May to complete.
The concerned owner of Alpino's, Eric Santi, fears the road works taking five months to finish could cost him his business.
He said: "I had a chat with the guy from the Post Office and we were discussing how the M77 had a mile and a half stretch fixed recently.
"They started it on the Friday night and were finished on the Monday but it is taking the council five months to do Cross Arthurlie Street.
"There is no business here which could cope with the disruption on the street for five months.
"There will be no loading and no parking so how will shops be able to do deliveries or how will people be able to get to the shops.
"Our business will suffer and we will not get it back.
"You can't park in Paisley Town Centre without being charged and look what's happened there.
"If people can't park outside the shops they won't come at all, Barrhead could become a ghost town."
Eric added: "I don't think the street is in such a state that it needs to be effectively closed for five months to improve it.
"If my business suffers I will be forced to reduce the hours of the girls who work here and even give them a five month holiday, how will they be able to pay their bills then."
A council spokesman said: "[The shop owners] may not believe it but our road engineers know it needs improved.
"Either we shut it for a short period or we carry it out over a longer period by doing it in phases to keep the road open for as long as we can.
"This is a one off chance to improve Cross Arthurlie Street because if we don't spend the money we will lose it.
"We ask everyone to be patient when this happens."
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Rachel Miller
(Unregistered User)
Dec 5 09 09:44
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I agree with the business owners. They have to come to an understanding or else the council will have to pay for the business losses that they will make, its only fair. Paisley is an awful place to shop (with what's left). That's Renfrewshire council's own fault. East Renfrewshire should learn from that and do not make the same mistake. Already we are being ripped off by some guy who owns the car park behind the main street shops. There's no thought that went into that. Cross Arthurlie street is a through road to Paisley it will be terrible for everyone if the works went on continuously for 5 months ( why 5 months?) There has been lots of building work going on. There has been no problems from them.
Stephen M
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Jan 26 10 09:55
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The entire thing is a complete disaster and the street looks a total state. There are burst water mains everywhere and the traffic is terrible. There's no way I'll be venturing down there until these roadworks are over.
Wee G
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Jan 26 10 09:57
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I was stuck in the traffic there the other day and water from a burst pipe had leaked all over the road. Some wise crack thought it would be funny to speed down the other side and got water all over the inside of my car because my window was open. There's no way I'll be putting up with that again.
E McCourt
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Jan 26 10 10:01
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Who runs this council?!! A monkey could do it better. Fair enough there has to be roadworks to improve the state of the place but the mess the council road people are creating along with it is a disgrace. Water everywhere and a ton of dust and grit over cars and people. No harm to the guys that are just doing their job, but the council chiefs need to use their brains a bit more. If they can't even afford to grit streets in the snow who knows how they'll afford to clean up this mess.
Jim K
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Jan 26 10 10:06
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Spare a thought for us bus drivers who have to struggle up the road several times a day. Not only does it make us late on EVERY bus route, I'm sick of seeing pensioners have to walk through the muck and grime on the roads. Regeneration? If this was anywhere else the roadworks would have been done in three or four days like the shop guy said. The council and government need to stop treating us like idiots - maybe you don't have to use this road in the current circumstances, but we do. Spare us a thought, eh?
Elaine
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Jan 26 10 10:10
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When I read this I never thought that the works would cause as much damage as they have done. As a mum I\'m glad the road is getting redone because crossing it with a pram was a nightmare. But it\'s even worse now - there\'s stuff everywhere and it\'s dirty. I feel sorry for the shopkeepers and hope they don\'t lose too much business - especially the wee ones I use all the time, where they\'re dead nice to me. Why couldn\'t the council close the road bit by bit and then everyone would have been happy?
Joe
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Jan 26 10 10:30
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Once again East Renfrewshire council waits until the last minute to fix things. How long have they had that money to fix this road. One year? 2 Years? If they had sectioned out the road and used the money to fix it a bit at a time we wouldn't have this problem. This council are always trying to do things at the last minute, so this, as bad as it is, comes as no surprise.
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