I spent an afternoon this week checking out the effect of the Severn Trent roadworks on the businesses on Load Street in Bewdley. I visited a number of the shops, including the post office, Nature’s Tiles bathroom shop, the accessories shop Editions, one of the pharmacies, one of the sweet shops, the Deli and Maggie’s flower shop. All of them commented on how efficient and helpful the Severn Trent team were but all of them said they were really worried about the loss of business they were suffering. In some cases people reckoned business was down by between 25 and 50 percent. I also spoke to the owner of the Farm Shop, who said staff have had to be laid off there and in the bakery. One said that he expected at least one business to close before the works are completed.

Shockingly, all commented that none of the local politicians had come out to discuss the matter with them, barring the Town Mayor, who had been around that morning and had written to the District Council and the press.

This begs an important question about the problems of having too much to do as a councillor. What Bewdley business needed in the long run-up to the roadworks was advance planning and help.

There are a number of things that could have been done in advance to help cushion the blow to the local economy. For a start, the loss of drop in parking on Load Street is particularly affecting the small independent shops such as florists, off-licences and newsagents. Free parking for one or two hours in the short term car park would be a huge help and has been done before, so is clearly possible. A business tax discount is available and the councillors could have been helping the shops apply for this in advance. It only amounts to under £100 for most small shops but every little helps.

Severn Trent do offer a compensation scheme on lost profits but this does not take into account the three lost jobs that I’m aware of so far, nor does it help those new businesses which do not have two years previous accounting as evidence. Had the local councillors talked to the businesses in advance, it might have been possible to find ways around this. There are at least six new businesses in Load Street and Welch Gate and they are going to find it very hard to get compensation.

As I said, everyone is praising Severn Trent for their communication and efficiency compared to the previous experience. It seems a shame that communication has been so lacking from the County and District councillors. Let us hope that this lost opportunity will not result in losts businesses and more lost jobs.