Fury as roadworks to return

Roadworks that came with a 12-mile diversion and cost businesses tens of thousands of pounds in lost takings look set to return to a busy road in South Staffordshire this summer, it emerged today.

Traders along Codsall Wood Road today described the situation as a "disaster" and said they were stunned the work by Severn Trent and now National Grid had not been carried out at the same time.

The busy road was closed from May 5 to 23 while Severn Trent laid a gravity sewer. The closure was said to have resulted in the number of lunchtime customers at the Cross Guns pub falling from 50 to just six, and takings at The Crown plummeting by around 50 per cent.

Nearby Plantabout Nurseries suffered the worst slump in its 10-year history and staff said customers were being sent on a wild goose chase around the diversion. Codsall councillor Sonja Oatley today confirmed roadworks were set to return to the same stretch of road in July but said she would do all she could to avoid the same situation. "We want to see a one-way system introduced instead of just shutting the road off completely," she said. "The 12-mile diversion was ridiculous for all concerned."

The roadworks hit local businesses so hard that four firms have applied for Severn Trent's loss-of-profits scheme.