A 20-WEEK long road closure to build a roundabout on Holt Road will hit Bradford on Avon from Tuesday – angering residents over the lack of notice.

The B3107 Holt Road will be closed from its western junction with Springfield, on the edge of Bradford, until its junction with Cemetery Lane until late September.

Civic leaders and town councillors have criticised the developers C G Fry & Sons, who are building the roundabout as part of the Kingston Farm Development, for not giving them more warning about the length of the road closure.

“It is a complete nightmare, really. I am quite alarmed by just how long it will be closed for, it is a very long time,” said Mayor Alison Craddock.

“We have been kept in the dark about this as we only found out last week from the Wiltshire Council. I do not know what they have got planned for diversions but this will impact a lot of people.

“We have the civil war re-enactment in late July so hopefully that will not be affected much but it is certainly a worry for the town.”

The closure will also affect the town’s bike festival at the start of September.

The town council is currently submitting the paperwork for the temporary closure of Mason’s Lane for the uphill sprint event five months before it takes place – when the road could still be the main diversion route.

James Vincent, owner of J Alex Brown hardware on Silver Street, said: “That seems a heck of a long time to put in a roundabout. It is not as if they are building a bypass or anything.

“I personally do not rely much on passing trade but others do and other business owners I have spoken to are not too happy about this, but after all a job has to be done.

“I think people would be more sympathetic and it would help traders to understand it all if they were made aware of this sooner in advance.”

Chairman of Bradford on Avon Business, Andrew Eberlin, added: “This seems like a very long time and clearly this will have a big impact on the town and getting in and out of it. We are very concerned.

“More to the point however is the fact that there was a big breakdown in communication. Nobody was forewarned. We are having a meeting on it this week to discuss it.”

The official diversion route will take traffic from Forewood Common through Woolley Green and onto Sladesbrook, Mount Pleasant, Masons Lane and Market Street, and vice versa.

For more details, contact Wiltshire Council Streetworks on 01225 713497.