Businesses bosses have criticised Bradford Council for not completing restoration works on a culvert while a nearby bridge was closed.

Traders in Harden, near Bingley, had hoped business would get back to normal after nearby historic Ireland Bridge was re-opened after a six-month closure last week.

But before the bridge was re-opened, restoration work on a culvert next to Harden roundabout was started.

But Garry Snowden, of G Snowden and Sons butchers in Harden, said the work at the roundabout should have been completed while the bridge was closed.

He said: “The lads who are doing the job are absolutely brilliant. They are coming in and getting sandwiches and helping us out. It’s just poor planning – the bridge is open and everything was going to be fine, but now there’s no parking outside my shop.”

Mr Snowden said the closure of the bridge had probably cost him about ten per cent of his trade, but the works at the roundabout had left him about 40 per cent down.

He said: “My gripe is they didn’t do the work while the bridge was shut.”

Anthony Townler, of Harden Post Office, said: “They should have done it while the bridge was closed. Why start now when the bridge has just opened?

“We have had six months of bad trading because of the bridge and now they have started this. Nobody can park near our shops.”

John Anderson, principal engineer at the council’s highways structures unit, said: “The funding for the Ireland Bridge project and the Harden culvert restoration was allocated in different yearly budgets.

“This meant that we could not begin work on the culvert until recently.

“We did intend to carry out the two projects at the same time so traffic would not be disrupted for longer than is necessary but circumstances have resulted in an overlap.

“The early opening of Ireland Bridge and utility services complications in the culvert project has meant a slight overrun.

“We have every sympathy with anyone adversely affected and we hope to have the whole road from Bingley to Harden open in three weeks.

“We try to programme and co-ordinate the works over the same period.”