Businesses respond as town centre works cancelled

Businesses have responded to the cancellation of a programme of town centre road changes.

Surrey County Council announced planned roadworks in Weybridge, due to start in January, had been scrapped after local support was withdrawn.

Some local businesses welcomed the u-turn, but one business owner said he was "disappointed".

Council leader Tim Oliver, who represents the Weybridge division, said the authority had "always tried to focus on the longer-term benefits" to the town and he was "disappointed the improvement works will no longer proceed".

The works would have seen pavements widened along part of Church Street and part of High Street and a new pedestrian crossing, according to the council.

The road was set to be resurfaced and new street seating and lighting were to be installed.

Chris Hitchcock, of Clive Christian Interiors, said the cancellation was "a good thing".

"Obviously our clients like to park outside on the roads, in the lay-bys," he said.

"So for them it's a bit easier and I think there's going to be less congestion now because they're not doing the plans."

David Kalski, the manager of Megan's by the Wey, told BBC Radio Surrey he was "very glad" because "a lot of my colleagues would be heavily affected by this, including myself".

But Bachmanns patisserie owner Chris Bachmann said he had been "looking forward to the improvements" as they would create more space outside his shopfront.

"You need to get traffic moving through and away from the town, that's the most important thing," he said.

"I'm bemused because I can't see any reason not to have it."

Discover Weybridge, the town's business improvement district, said it was "disappointed with Surrey County Council's decision to cancel the project in its entirety" and had wanted to see the Baker Street junction improved.

But the organisation said that "overall, we are pleased with the decision".

"These changes would have caused significant disruption with limited benefit and introduced potential long term issues," a spokesperson said.

Dave Arnold, chair of the Weybridge Society, said: "We reluctantly concluded that we could not support the proposed scheme as a whole but hope that the scheme can still proceed in part, when the time is right."

Surrey County Council said the scheme had been "developed over a number of years and in close collaboration with various stakeholders" including councillors and businesses.

The cancellation was "due to local stakeholders withdrawing their support for the scheme", according to the authority.

The work was initially scheduled for 2023 but delayed to avoid coinciding with work on the nearby Wisley Interchange, where the A3 joins the M25.

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