Firms face misery as roads to close

Three main Black Country roads will be dug up for around four-and-a-half months, causing misery for businesses.

Work by South Staffordshire Water to replace 1.7 miles of sewage pipes will cause road closures in Waterfall Lane, Beauty Bank and Station Road in Cradley Heath. According to Sandwell Council work is scheduled to start on July 15 and is due to be finished by December.

It will force lorries making deliveries to 16 businesses on Waterfall Lane Trading Estate to divert through Blackheath, bosses said today.

But South Staffordshire Water has pledged that the work will be done in stages so that the three roads will not be affected at the same time.

There will be a road closure on Waterfall Lane from Station Road to Beeches Road. There will also be closures on Station Road at the junction with Waterfall Lane and on Beauty Bank from the junction of Halesowen Road.

Mike Heath, managing director of Cables Britain, an electric cable distributor on the trading estate, said: "It will cause a lot of inconvenience.

"We have articulated lorries coming in and staff who will be caught in tra-ffic."

Paul Patterson, operations manager of lorry parts manufacturer Truck-Lite, said: "If the entrance to Waterfall Lane is closed then our suppliers would have to come via Blackheath and that is going to cause them problems."

He said 142 people worked at the company.

Blackheath councillor Mary Docker appealed for traffic light sequences in the town to be changed to ease traffic flows. She said: "I know South Staffordshire Water has to do its maintenance and no-one can blame them for what is happening but it is a shame that this will have a knock-on effect to the town."

South Staffordshire Water spokeswoman Rachel Barber said: "There will be three separate closures and none of them should be done at the same time."