A FURIOUS village butcher says the closure of a bridge has cost him thousands of pounds in lost trade.

Ian Hewitt says passing business has been wiped out since the bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Bar Lane, Riddlesden, was shut for repairs last month.

Traffic has been diverted via Granby Lane.

Mr Hewitt has hit out at a "lack of progress" on the scheme, which is being carried out jointly by Bradford Council and the Canal & River Trust.

"I've rung the council several times about it but no one ever comes back to me with answers," he added.

"They've been there more than three weeks and the 'progress' has been ridiculous.

"Some days it's just been the one guy there and sometimes there has been no sign of anybody for several days.

"It's costing me a fortune in lost turnover, but the council doesn't seem to care. I must have lost at least £3,000 because there's no passing trade.

"And no one came to see us to warn the bridge was going to close. The first we knew was when signs appeared."

Bradford Council told the Keighley News last week that the bridge was scheduled to reopen to traffic yesterday.

But it was still closed this morning.

A council spokesman said: "Repairing canal swing bridges is a complicated process.

"The repair to the bridge on Bar Lane involved breaking out the concrete road surface using hand tools to allow access to the concrete counterweight mechanism, which enables the bridge to open and close.

"It then involved cleaning and retying all the existing steel reinforcements, recasting several concrete elements and relaying the entire road and footway.

"This all takes time, including periods where no activity can take place on the bridge to allow the concrete to set and cure – this can take between 24 hours and two days depending on the thickness of the concrete and the weather conditions.

"We have been working with the Canal & River Trust and our contractor to get the bridge reopened as soon as possible. We are sorry for the inconvenience that this essential repair work has caused."

We also contacted the Canal & River Trust, but at the time of going to press it hadn't responded with a comment.