BUSINESS owners and residents of North Goulburn are up in arms over Council road works on the roundabout at the corner of Chatsbury and Union Sts.
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They are angry that the whole section of road is closed from the traffic lights at Lagoon St right down to the Gordon Hotel.
Owner of North Goulburn Post Office Ros Kent told the Post that her business was being significantly hurt by the presence of trucks parked outside and the general noise levels.
“Why should they close the whole of Union St, especially at our end, when all they are working on is the roundabout itself?” Mrs Kent asked.
“Council told us that there would be ‘minimum disturbance’- but do you call at least half a dozen trucks and other equipment parked outside our post office, a lot of them with their engines still running, a ‘minimum disturbance’?
“Our customers are also being considerably affected by this. Most of them are parking in Allison St and surrounding streets and then walking a fair way around to our post office. Some of them are elderly and can’t walk long distances- especially the residents of Chatsbury Gardens, who weren’t able to go out on their bus, because it couldn’t get through,” she said.
She said the Post Office was providing a valuable service, paid for by the public.
“We basically built this shop up from nothing about six years ago, and it took a lot of hard work to get it going,” Mrs Kent said.
Butcher Bill Murray, whose shop is next door to the North Goulburn Post Office, was also concerned about the impact.
“Blind man Freddy could see that these road-works are affecting our businesses,” he said.
“It’s a case of ‘the doors aren’t swingin’, and ‘the till’s not ringin’- it affects our bottom line when the customers are disappearing.”
Council’s works and design manager Andrew Palmer told the Post the business owners and residents had not been left in the dark.
“Our workmen have been constantly liaising with the business owners and residents, and we also carried out letterbox drops notifying everyone in the area as to what was happening,” Mr Palmer said on Wednesday.
“We have provided access for locals and essential vehicles, and I can assure people the work will be completed by Thursday afternoon at the latest.”
He also advised that the diversions in place had been changed from Bishop St to Auburn St.
“Council will be carrying out footpath repair over the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years, with work to be done on both the North Goulburn Public School side and the Eagle FM side,” he said.