A WORRIED shopkeeper claims road safety work along a busy highway could slash his trade.

Bill Dunn fears his greengrocery store on Halliwell Road will lose business because parking space outside his shop was reduced as part of the scheme.

And Mr Dunn says the traffic calming measures - including the creation of parking bays with waiting restrictions - could make the road MORE dangerous.

He said: "There just does not seem to be any planning about this. There used to be spaces for seven cars in front of our parade of shops but now that's gone down to four.

"I'm really concerned as to how all this is going to affect my business and whether people won't be able to park up and pop in to buy goods.

"It's also going to affect the flow of traffic.

"Now there's nowhere for the bus to pull into when it needs to pick people up.

"When the bus stops, all the traffic has to stop as well.

"I'm sure an accident is just waiting to happen now.

"Only the other day I saw a car overtake the bus on the wrong side of the road and another car pulled out of a side street.

"They just managed to avoid a smash."

Mr Dunn, who has traded from the premises for the last 10 years, also claims the council have wasted money, repairing pavements last year which have been ripped up in the traffic calming project.

Other worried shopkeepers along Halliwell Road have held urgent talks with councillors to discuss the City Challenge funded project.

A council spokesman said: "The road is being narrowed at pelican crossings so that there is less distance for pedestrians to cross.

"Bus stops will be protected by waiting restrictions with the kerb further into the road so that buses can rejoin the traffic easily.

"At the moment at peak times no one can park their car along the length of the road, but these new facilities will mean they will be able to do so for a limited period of time.

"Recent concerns about the type of waiting restrictions have been received by the council after the objection period and it is very likely that there will be a report to committee soon detailing these objections."

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