Richmond business owners are frustrated at not being asked for their say on a road closure that has seen business drop by more than half in some cases.
Access from State Highway 6 to McGlashen Ave closed on Monday last week to allow for works to continue on a new stormwater pipeline under the new development at the former SBL site. One lane remains open to allow traffic to exit McGlashen Ave onto the highway.
The closure is expected to remain in place for five weeks and means traffic must use Oxford St or Salisbury Rd to enter Richmond from the highway.
Local business owners say they wish they had been consulted as part of the project rather than being delivered a letter a couple of business days beforehand.
Waimea Vehicle Testing Station owner Chris Webley operates his business near the busy intersection of McGlashen Ave and SH6.
Entry to the drive-thru warrant shop is from McGlashen Ave, while vehicles exit onto SH6.
Chris says the closure has seen business drop by more than half. While he understands the work needs to happen, he is frustrated by what he sees from his premises.
“There has been no work done on the road, we’ve all been watching, and that’s private car parking for the company, basically,” he told Waimea Weekly last Wednesday.
By Wednesday, three days into the lane closure, the only work Chris says he had seen on the road was a digger being unloaded.
However, work is well underway inside the private premises, which for safety reasons, meant the nearby traffic lane had to be closed.
Chris would’ve preferred if people could still enter McGlashen Ave from the highway because “once you’re in it’s easier to find your way out than the other way around”.
With nine staff, Chris says the wage bill continues regardless of the disruption. He has deployed two of his four inspectors elsewhere rather than have them waiting for customers who are no longer coming through the area.
“We are at our wits end, so is every other business in town.
“Everyone who's come in is just going, ‘what a hectic place to get into at the moment’.”
He says customers from Berryfields and Richmond make up a big part of his business.
“You’ve got people coming in, and saying, ‘we had to drive all the way to the roundabout and go around’. That’s one customer, how many didn’t?”
He cites the full closure of Queen St in 2017/18, along with “continuous” works on other parts of the road including a two-week closure of Mcglashen Ave just a “couple of months ago” to begin the pipeline works, as pushing business to its limit.
“It’s just happening everywhere, enough is enough really.
“Just do the whole damn job all at once, but that’s not the way they work because it’s different contractors. But there’s three days of interruptions that didn’t need to happen.”
Drivers are also using the site as a thoroughfare, often driving the wrong way as witnessed by Chris.
Tasman Butchery general manager Mark Paton says the works have made the business quieter.
Petmart Richmond owner Graeme Lewis also doesn’t dispute that the work needs to happen but hoped there would be better communication prior to the works.
He would’ve liked to see businesses consulted on the plan and have the opportunity to share thoughts on it.
He says operating a retail business in a post-Covid world is already hard enough, and he had some suggestions on what could’ve made it easier on businesses in the immediate vicinity.
Tasman District Council confirmed there was no consultation with businesses prior to the works but that all businesses in the area were notified of the lane closure.
“The area is still accessible via the posted detours,” a spokesperson says.
The project will see the installation of a new stormwater pipeline within private property on McGlashen Avenue. The pipeline will connect to an existing, but unused, 1350mm diameter stormwater pipe under the Richmond Deviation SH6.
The works are expected to be completed by Friday, 12 June, weather dependent.
