A BARBER fears a new travel scheme outside his shop will “kill off” his business and has criticised council planners after claiming they did not inform him of the changes.
Terry Fry has owned Guineas in Stafford Road in Bournemouth town centre for more than four decades and says he has shunned council offered compensation amid lengthy roadworks which are set to transform the road.
A section of Stafford Road, just off Old Christchurch Road, has been closed since January 31 for work which will apparently see the street narrowed, changed to a one-way system and a cycle lane installed.
The grandfather claims he has not been informed of the plans and said he only found out when he saw a workman marking the pavement outside his shop for a new crossing.
Terry, 75, told the Echo: “I’ve been here for 43 years and would have thought, seeing as though it’s going to impact me so much, that I would have been consulted. But I’ve had nothing.
“It has been terrible. The dirt, noise, and closures we’ve had for the past couple of years and now this.
“I always read every public notice on this road or letters through the post so I know what’s happening, but for this we had absolutely nothing.”
Outside Guineas is parking provision for three cars for Terry and his customers. However, with the upcoming one-way system, cars will no longer be able to travel from Old Christchurch Road – meaning if they were to park in the allotted spaces, they would be unable to exit from the driver’s side due to proximity to the property.
With most of his clients using cars, Terry fears this could be a fatal blow.
He said: “The diamond part of my business is the parking and it’s going to put me out of business, I think.
“My customers aren’t going to go and look for parking – they’ll just go elsewhere. It’s a hideous situation and I’m very concerned. It’s keeping me awake at night.”
Diagnosed with cancer in 2020, Terry thought his “time was up” so gained planning permission to convert the site into a two-bedroom flat. However, after beating the illness, Terry says he wants to keep working.
“I still work because I enjoy it and want to keep going while I’m able,” he said.
“Talking to the council is like talking to a brick wall. They’ve made their mind up that this is what they want to do and now they’re bulldozing it through.”
The Daily Echo approached BCP Council to comment on the issue and, while they were unable to provide a full response before going to print, a spokesperson did say: “Our engineers have been in contact with the resident via email and have met him on site. We are currently discussing options to address the resident’s concerns.”
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