FRUSTRATED business owners and residents based close to a road upgrade scheme that was due to be completed by the end of this year have been told the work will now not even start until spring 2017.

Due to complications with unexpected utility pipes and cables under the road, at the junction of Catterick Road, Byng Road and Horne Road, in Catterick Garrison, the works have been suspended until April or May.

The upgrade is part of a major £1.6m scheme to improve many of the roads around the garrison to provide housing and employment growth opportunities.

But businesses at the White Shops, in Hildyard Row, off Catterick Road, have already voiced concerns about the work which they say is affecting trade because customers can no longer park for free outside the shopping parade.

The work is now estimated to be completed in July 2017 – 10 months after it started.

Garrison councillor Helen Grant described the delays as “wholly unacceptable” and said she would continue to push North Yorkshire County Council for further updates.

The project began back in September with an anticipated programme of 12 weeks - but the contractors then came across a number of previously unidentified services on site which needed to be either moved or protected by the utility companies.

North Yorkshire County Council officers and the main contractors have been working with the seven utility companies to co-ordinate the required work.

County councillor Don Mackenzie, the executive member for highways, said: “We must apologise for any more inconvenience caused by the unavoidable extension to the work on the junction.

“But when it is finished it will provide a package of upgrades along the A6136 that will improve traffic flow between the A1, Colburn and a modern Catterick Garrison town centre.

“In addition, increasing the capacity of the A6136 will help to support Catterick’s growth potential.”

Cllr Grant said: “The length of time this work has taken - and is about to take - is wholly unacceptable not only to the drivers who have to negotiate the area every day, the residents of the nearby housing estate which is taking the brunt of traffic trying to avoid the area, but, more importantly the businesses at Hildyard Row.

“These businesses have endured a massive impact which they thought would only last 12 weeks.

“The cessation of charges at the carpark only goes a little way to compensating their loss.”

Updates on the work will be posted at northyorks.gov.uk/transportschemes.