Small businesses are feeling ignored and pushed out by the chaos caused by roadworks in a town centre.

Cumbria County Council began work on the “gateway street” into Whitehaven, Bransty Row, in August 2019, and people of the town have run out of patience.

After months of delays and debris, the community feel there’s no end in sight, and one business owner even talked of moving from the town to escape the carnage.

“I just don’t know when it’s going to end,” said Cumbria Tackle and Guns owner Paul Armstrong.

“I’ll probably be looking for somewhere else soon, because Whitehaven doesn’t seem to care about small businesses and the little voices anymore.”

On top of the access issues caused by the roadworks directly outside his George Street shop, Mr Armstrong has also had to pay £475 to fix a window broken by debris he believes was from the works, and the mess it’s causing.

“The whole planning of it is just totally shocking – I’m just perplexed by it all.”

Town councillor Carl Walmsley understands the town’s concerns, and said: “I’ve had many complaints from pedestrians, motorists and business owners, and I share their frustration. The works have gone on much longer than planned and at peak times the whole town’s roads can come to a standstill.

“I’m not sure what the hold up has been but hopefully it will be resolved soon, and the finished article will be worth all the frustration.”

While town councillors Graham Roberts and Carla Arrighi “understand people’s issue with the works”, both feel it is necessary, and look forward to seeing the town “bettered” by the £2.5m investment into the junction.

A spokesman for the council said work is scheduled to finish in “late spring 2020”, adding: “Unfortunately it cannot be undertaken without the need for traffic management measures.

“While we apologise for the unavoidable disruption, we are mitigating factors by manually controlling the traffic lights to keep any queuing to an absolute minimum, and only using them where absolutely necessary.”