High street shopkeepers slam 'absolutely awful' Wirral roadworks

They fear building works by Wirral Council to improve Birkenhead town centre could lead to a number of them closing for good.

Earlier this year, construction work started on a number of different projects in the town as Wirral Council finally moved ahead with creating new cycle lanes and walking routes, improving the main high street on Grange Road and making the Charing Cross junction near the McDonalds in the town centre safer.

Works on one of Wirral Council's major regeneration schemes taking place in Birkenhead (Image: Ed Barnes) The improvements are one of the first major regeneration projects started by the council with works expected to run into 2025.

The funding for the scheme comes from a UK government grant to revive high streets as well as funding to support more walking and cycling from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The works have not been entirely without controversy after the felling of a number of trees alongside the main high street though more will be planted in their place.

Now several businesses along Grange Road fear they could be put out of business by the works leaving the high street with shuttered shops once it’s refurbished.

Neil Knight runs the BigaByte phone shop on Grange Road. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "I think the story writes itself. That was my first customer in the last three hours. It used to be busy."

Works on one of Wirral Council's major regeneration schemes taking place in Birkenhead (Image: Ed Barnes) He claimed work had taken place outside his shop with no warning and like others, felt like they didn’t know what would happen from one week to the next. Recently, he said he had to call an ambulance because someone had fallen over on the uneven surface caused by the road works.

He added: "It's going to be regenerated so it will be a beautiful place to walk through and look at all the boarded up shops. It's not helping at all."

Works on one of Wirral Council's major regeneration schemes taking place in Birkenhead (Image: Ed Barnes) Charles Warmsley is the manager of homeless charity Hopeful Haven. He said they've lost about 75% of their business since work started in July and the work had been "just willy nilly."

He added: "They told us it's going to be beautiful when they have done it but there is going to be no one here to see it. You are going to find a homeless charity homeless shortly. We do appreciate the work has got to be done but it’s not being done with the businesses."

Jason Buckley is a volunteer with the charity. He said he would be really upset if it closed, adding: "The council needs to start listening. We will close down if it carries on. They have given us to the end of Christmas. We might be gone by then but we do not want to.

"People who come in don’t like it down here because the pathways are dangerous. We told them [the council] they need to sort them out because they might hurt somebody.

"I would be heartbroken. I would be lost. This gives me independence and it’s great for my mental health because we feel like we are giving something back."

He added: "They worry about the bigger shops rather than the little ones. The road works have been here for way too long.

"They have got a little better now but it used to be 10 times worse. They would close a section off with just a few days notice."

Birkenhead councillor Pat Cleary has been working with council officers and Graham to try and improve things for businesses. He said he still supported the works as it was a major investment for the town centre that will help it in the long run.

Councillor Pat Cleary has been speaking to businesses on Grange Road and raising their concerns with the council (Image: Permission to use by LDRS partners) However he wanted to see the council take further action to address the concerns of businesses. This includes a faster rollout of compensation payments to help businesses survive a difficult period and better oversight of the project.

While he said there had been failures of the council in the beginning including a lack of signs saying shops were open, he said things were improving and believes shops will be better informed going forward.

He said: "There is a compensation scheme and I am trying to get the council to push this on and the sooner the shops get those payments, that could be the difference between anyone trying to stay open or close.”

However he said the works had faced delays due to recent bad weather, adding: "I wouldn’t be giving the council a hard time about that. They have put up a lot of signage. They have listened."

Cllr Cleary believes one of the issues which has made the project difficult for businesses are strict government timelines for money to be spent. He said the council "wouldn’t be doing it all in one go" and argued "that has forced the council to do an awful lot in a short amount of time."

Wirral Council and Graham were approached for comment.