In Saltash, Cormac has begun work to repair and re-lay block paving in the parking bays and bus bays. The work is scheduled to go on until November 26.

Cormac says that the work is necessary because the paving has become loose and uneven – and that after consultation with the town council, it has moved the main work of resurfacing the whole of Fore Street back until next spring.

But having only just recovered from major disruption from the Tamar bridge work and coming out of the pandemic, local traders are not happy with the decision. Sarah Martin, the chair of Saltash Chamber of Commerce, said: “We were in touch with Cormac months ago to ask them not to do this work in the Christmas run-up. As far as we were concerned, all they were going to do this month was remove the humps in the bus bays (put in for social distancing). But now it turns out they’re doing all the parking bays too.”

“Cormac says they’ve programmed the work to end before the Christmas trading period, but that is already underway – and our full decorations and lights go up on November 18 before the works are scheduled to finish."

Traders in the town worried about the work include Daniel Rodgers from Kernow pet supplies who said: “It’ll probably affect us a bit because we get a lot of people who park outside to come and pick up big bags of food and things.”

“It’s not always straight away but after a while people will just start to avoid the area, but it’s also going to affect people that live on North road quite a lot I would say.”

Husband and wife, Nicky and Adam Webb from Nicky’s glow beads and gifts said: “Although were going to have kind of one lane which is going to be give and take, the problem is anybody that lives in Saltash will go around and won’t bother”

And Tracy Hayton from The Bookshelf added: “Its just a nightmare. You would just think they would wait until January but now we’ve been told they're going to do all the parking bays, they’re not desperate are they. I don’t know why they can't just give us November and December”

Cornwall Council says it has ensured it’s taken consideration of the traders during a consultation. In a letter to local businesses, the Council said: “We have programmed the works to finish before the Christmas trading period to minimise the impact on businesses and residents.”

The Council added that it fully appreciated the impact the works on the Tamar Bridge have had to Saltash over the summer and autumn and “was doing all it could to minimise further disruption”. It explained that to reduce disruption in the main street there will be a ‘give and take’ traffic management system.

“There will also be temporary parking restrictions in order to complete the parking bay work” said the Council, “but only two bays will be closed at a time. And while work is being done in the bus bays, the bus stops will be moved to a temporary location nearby. Work is being done out of hours where possible.”

But Chamber of Commerce chair Sarah Martin said it was ‘very disappointing’ that Cormac were going ahead with the work now when traders were doing all they could to recoup what they had lost during the year. “We know the work is needed on the bus bays but all the other work could have waited until the road resurfacing work next Spring.”

Saltash, she said, is bucking the trend: it has new businesses that have started up and kept going through the pandemic, and more retail units are full now than at any time in the last few years.