A NUMBER of Carp St business owners are unhappy after not being advised by Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC) the development of Bega’s Littleton Gardens was to begin this week.
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Work began on the weekend on the next stage of works in the ongoing development of the gardens, with a large area of the car park and public toilets closed off by tall fencing.
John Plevey from Plevey’s Pharmacy on Carp St said he was not notified by council of the scheduled development work and is concerned for elderly customers who are unable to walk more than 100 metres at most.
“We received no letter and no-one dropping around to explain what’s happening, no notification at all,” Mr Plevey said.
“I actually wasn’t aware that they were proceeding with the next stage of the Littleton Gardens development until this morning.
“First I rang council and the guy on the front desk knew nothing about it, so he advised me to call back after lunch.”
After a follow-up call to BVSC group manager of transport and utilities Wayne Sartori, Mr Plevey said he was told the fencing would remain for a “few months” and they hope to have it open for Christmas trading.
With 25-30 per cent of Mr Plevey’s customers using the pharmacy’s rear entrance, he said he was quite concerned at the negative effects the work will have on his business.
“We’re not happy with the whole arrangement, but we have no say in it,” he said.
“There’s really nothing we can do because council has closed off the majority of access.
“In the meantime we’re stuck, which I don’t think is fair at all.”
Office Choice’s Susan Jauncey is also concerned and said the previous stage of the garden’s development almost forced the business to close its doors.
“We couldn’t get anything into our shed here, it was awful,” she said.
Ms Jauncey did have warning of the impending work – however, it didn’t come officially from the BVSC, but from the contractor undertaking the development.
“We found out through RD Miller and a member of the council because they are customers of ours,” she said.
“First of all they should have approached all the businesses in the area.
“I mean don’t we have a say in anything?
“I think they don’t really care about the businesses in Bega,” she said.
The council issued a report to the media on August 25 to say the work was to start on the weekend.
However, BVSC general manager Leanne Barnes said businesses had also been advised and that alternatives for car parking were available within Sapphire Marketplace.
“There was definitely information provided to the Chamber of Commerce and the media,” Ms Barnes said.
“The toilets are being closed as they will be moved as part of the redesigning process.
“For now there is access to the toilet in the marketplace and we have talked to Woolworths about parking during the development process.”
Ms Barnes said the work scheduled has been hastened after concern from the Chamber of Commerce and will “take place over six weeks”.
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