A BUSY road will be closed for up to five weeks to allow for bridge repairs – three weeks longer than local businesses expected.

Work to repair a crumbling 19th Century bridge over a beck in Manfield, near Darlington, will start tomorrow (Saturday, June 1).

Local people had initially thought that the work would take two weeks, but were shocked when diversion signs put in place today (Friday) indicated that the road will be closed for five weeks.

Peter Hynes, who runs The Crown Inn, in the village, said the prolonged closure could cause serious damage to his business through lost trade.

A North Yorkshire County Council spokesman said it would take up to one week to remove a water main running through the structure before highways experts from the authority could repair the bridge, which could take up to 28 days.

He added that the council had never said the road would be closed for two weeks.

Mr Hynes, who also runs Number Twenty 2, in Darlington town centre, said: “We heard nothing from the council about it being five weeks – just a photocopied letter from the parish council.

“We’ve got a lot of customers from the other side of the road and they probably won’t travel the seven or eight miles of the diversion. We will have to put a claim in with the council of some sort for lost trade.

“We will not close – we are very much open for business.”