SHOPKEEPERS say roadworks are causing serious damage to their businesses and are calling for the work to be speeded up.

Protests are being made to Middlesbrough Council over the pace of work in Cargo Fleet Lane - one of the town's main routes.

Shop owners say their sales are down 20 to 40 per cent each week because they are cut off from passing trade, while residents and commuters have also raised concerns.

Newsagent Andy Hill said that if the work ran over schedule for completion of the contract, retailers will have to consider reducing employees' hours. Work started in mid-January and is expected to take 16 weeks.

The local community council has now asked for a meeting with contractor Balfour Beatty, which could not be contacted at the weekend.

A spokesman for Middlesbrough Council, which ordered the work, said: "As the works in Cargo Fleet Lane are contracted work, the council cannot dictate to the contractor how he plans his labour resource. We can suggest weekend working, which is what we have done, but we cannot demand it since the contractors' only obligation is to complete and deliver the works within the contract period.

"The contractors currently work from 8am until 5.15pm on Monday to Thursday and from 8am until 3.30pm on Fridays. As the nights get lighter, Balfour Beatty may extend the working day to 6pm -again, that is for them to decide -but no later than that as we have to consider the needs of local residents from a noise point of view. Any extension beyond the 6pm working day would have to be agreed with local residents. The contractors were given 16 weeks to complete all the works on Cargo Fleet Lane and are confident that will be met."

The council has previously apologised for traffic problems in surrounding streets as a result of the roadworks.

Labour ward councillor Brian Hubbard said: "There are no more than eight men working on site at any one time and there is no one there at weekends.

"The council can say the contract is on course, but this is not a little by-way; it is one of the main roads in and out of Middlesbrough. I do not believe that the contractors are carrying out the work as effectively as they should be able to."