‘HORRENDOUS’ trading conditions brought about by months of redevelopment work on Greenock's West Blackhall Street have pushed at least three town centre businesses to the brink of collapse, a councillor has declared.

Conservative member Graeme Brooks lifted the lid on the hardship being endured by traders on the high street after his request to halt the £3.2m project was voted down - and told how some have seen takings plummet to single figures.

The Greenock representative had sought to pause the works and assess the impact they were having on traders before proceeding with the next phase, which will likely involve further road closures as the cobbles on West Blackhall Street are pulled up and a cycle lane installed.

The revamp got underway in January and has resulted in the closure of various sections of the high street for prolonged periods while work to improve the street scape takes place.

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But councillor Brooks has highlighted the serious impact this has had on local businesses and called for the council to re-visit its plans.

Greenock Telegraph: Councillor Graeme Brooks speaks out about disruption to West Blackhall Street businesses.

He said: “Three businesses have said to me they’re on the brink of closing.

“There’s no footfall and there are even some businesses who are taking single figures in pounds for a full day’s trading when it should be hundreds or thousands.

“The shops haven’t been closed but the footfall is gone, people are choosing not to shop in West Blackhall Street and that’s having an impact on traders.

 “As soon as phase one is finished and West Blackhall Street is re-opened with a lovely new pavement, seats and planters what we’re going to have is an additional road closure and we’re going to re-lift the carriageway to put in a cycle lane.

“When the original decision was made it was felt that it would be worth the pain to put a cycle lane, I think we should reflect on the pain that phase one has caused and re-assess whether it’s the right thing to do for our town centre.

“My gut reaction listening to traders is that further pain would not be the right thing.”

Councillor Brooks said he was ‘disappointed’ that many of his fellow members of the council’s environment and regeneration committee had chosen to vote against his proposal at a recent meeting to stop the works and re-assess before phase two begins.

The meeting also saw elected members approve plans for a £100k ‘business resilience support programme’ for businesses in the West Blackhall Street area who have been affected by the works, as well as the cost-of-living crisis. 

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Councillor Brooks said: “My request was that we should take a pause on phase two to make sure we can assess properly what happened in the first place, but unfortunately that was voted down.

“My gut reaction listening to traders is that further pain would not be the right thing.

“They say they’re on their knees in a financial context, their challenge is that they want additional funding from Inverclyde Council to offset the losses and earlier on in the meeting we did set aside some money to support them.

“If the damage to trading is that bad and its that difficult that we’re going to set aside public money, then why are we moving into phase two without re-assessing?

“The traders I’m speaking to have nothing good to say about Inverclyde Council, but I can understand that closing a road and doing the pavements was always going to cause challenges.

“But it could be worth it if we improve West Blackhall Street with the phase one works, however I can’t for the life of me understand why we’re doing it all again to install a cycle lane.”

An Inverclyde Council spokesperson said: “We are investing £3.2 million in this first phase of the West Blackhall Street regeneration project to make it more accessible and attractive for residents and visitors and more appealing for businesses.

“Plans were developed following consultations with the public, residents, traders and partners who all recognised the need for improvements to Greenock’s traditional high street a number of years ago and these remain current.

“At last week’s environment and regeneration committee, a one-off £100,000 fund was established to support local businesses with pressures caused by the cost-of-living crisis., as well as potentially being impacted by the works.

“Businesses will be able to apply for a one-off grant and more information about eligibility criteria and how to apply will be made available in due course.

“We are working with various partners and funders regarding plans for phase two of the West Blackhall Street redevelopment and the plans include re-using and re-laying the existing cobbles on West Blackhall Street.

“We will provide updates about phase two at a later date but in the meantime we are focused on delivering the first phase of this important regeneration project."