Islington News: Robert Bleasdale

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 30 January 2009

The water works on Caledonian Road

Businesses leaking profits as water works cause disruption

BUSINESSES say their trade has more than halved since a maze of railings, trenches and diggers took over Caledonian Road as part of a huge water pipe replacement project.
At least 20 shops are suffering a triple January blow, as they fight the recession, struggle to make up lost business from the quiet Christmas holidays, and have their profits slashed due to the barriers blockading traffic and passing trade.
They have launched a petition and are demanding compensation from Thames Water, who have closed one lane of traffic while they replace Victorian water mains with new plastic ones.
The works were originally supposed to completed last Saturday, but the project overran when engineers were called to deal with burst water pipes across London during the freezing weather conditions earlier this month. Thames Water now promise they will finish on Wednesday.
Zarah Sheikh, who runs Newstop newsagents, warned: “If this goes on one more week I will probably have to close down. I won’t be able to afford any more stock. Our sales depended on the bus stop (which has been moved). This is urgent. It’s our livelihood.”
Mrs Sheikh’s husband Faiz Khan added: “They keep saying it will be done next week.
“Our business is dead. We’re down by 75 per cent.”
Robert Bleasdale, who has run The Cast Iron Shop for the past 40 years, said: “It’s very upsetting. It’s chaotic. The traffic is terrible, it takes nearly an hour to get here. People are ducking and diving across the road because there’s no crossing. I can’t take any deliveries and customers can’t pick up goods.”
Bektas Aksadag, who runs B&A Supermarket, said: “Every day I’m down by £500. People don’t come past.”
A Thames Water spokeswoman said: “We appreciate work of this nature does bring inevitable disruption, but this huge investment will bring benefits for years to come, as we should not have to carry out repairs here in the future.
“We are working closely with Islington Council to reduce the impact on traffic and thereby minimise disruption. The latest construction techniques are also being used where possible, reducing the need to dig long trenches.”

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