'Absolute chaos': Town centre road shuts with 50-mile diversion

A six-week closure of the main road through a south of Scotland town - with an official 50-mile (80km) diversion - is causing "absolute chaos", traders have said.

The A76 in Sanquhar shut on Monday for six weeks to allow work to go ahead on the stonework on the Tolbooth Museum.

Businesses said it had been a "shambles" with trade already dropping dramatically and lorries getting stuck and having to reverse back out of town.

Dumfries and Galloway Council (DGC) said every effort was being made to minimise disruption and signs would be in place throughout the work to confirm shops were open as usual.

The category A-listed Tolbooth sits next to the A76 - a main link route between Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire.

The road narrows next to the building which the council said meant complete closure was necessary for some of the work.

Traffic was managed by temporary lights for two weeks but a full closure started on Monday and it is due to run until 10 July.

Local access will be maintained throughout but the official diversion - on routes suitable for HGVs - takes southbound traffic off at Cumnock on the A70 and on to Thornhill via the B7078 and A702 or the reverse for vehicles heading north.

Traders told BBC Scotland News before the work started that it would "kill the town".

Gareth Polland, who runs convenience shop The Store, said the situation was as bad as they had feared and the impact had been "terrible".

"The community - both the public and business owners - highlighted a lot of fervently-held concerns right at the start before this ever kicked off," he said.

"First and foremost, for us, there is no parking any longer outside of our business which means footfall and trade has been absolutely decimated.

"Secondly, just yesterday (Monday), there were three wide-load HGVs that were stopped in Sanquhar unable to turn around and had to reverse up the street."

He said the "borderline belligerence" of the council beggared belief and the work should have been done in the evening with traffic lights.

"It is causing absolute chaos - footfall in the town is down, passing trade in terms of commuters is down and it is day one - we have got six weeks of this," he said.

"It genuinely feels like the council - they just don't care, they genuinely don't care and there is no accountability.

"It doesn't matter how businesses or individual lives are impacted, the council gets their money regardless and carries on doing what they will regardless."

He said it was particularly difficult as it would cover the World Cup period when there was an opportunity to increase turnover.

"People just aren't coming up to the street because it is such a shambles," he said.

Charles Brown, who runs the local newsagents, echoed that view.

"The street has been very quiet over the last two days, we've witnessed a couple of altercations on the road between drivers jumping the lights," he said.

"My takings are down about £200 over the last two days, the local petrol station's takings are down 30% - so not good at all."

DGC has set up a dedicated web page with information about the works.

It said it recognised the concerns of traders and understood the importance of the A76 but the work to the Tolbooth was essential to address "significant stonework defects".

The council added that the project had been carefully planned to minimise disruption and local access would be maintained throughout the work.

It said it would be finished "well in advance" of key local events later in the summer.