East Horsley Road Re-opens Leaving Traders to Count the Cost

Published on: 10 Dec, 2021
Updated on: 11 Dec, 2021

The normally busy parking bay in East Horsley, empty during the road closure.

By Martin Giles

The road closure that angered East Horsley traders and residents ended late afternoon on Wednesday (December 8). Motorists can once again access the shopping parades near East Horsley Station. The Ockham Road (B2039) had remained closed for 10 days.

Local ward councillor Catherine Young (R4GV) who had raised the issue with Surrey County Council, responsible for highways in Surrey, said: “I’m obviously delighted that the road has re-opened, but I’m extremely concerned about the impact that this will have had on our local businesses. It caused such distress for our local retailers.

Cllr Catherine Young had said earlier that the road closure plan “beggar belief”.

“No doubt SCC will be receiving a compensation claim.

“What continues to amaze me is that as soon as the engineers had finished on Wednesday earlier in the day, they could not open the road as they were not in a position to remove the barriers – that of course was down to another SCC department – echoing this continued lack of joined-up thinking.

“I believe it took some local intervention to enable the traffic to flow freely.”

It is understood that frustrated local residents, told that although the road gang had completed its work, other workers had to come to remove the signs, took it on themselves to get traffic flowing again by moving the signs to the side of the road.

See also: Dragon Interview: GBC Backbencher Catherine Young

Terri Jones who runs the gift shop, Daisy Maison in East Horsley

Local trader Terri Wood, who had organised a petition seeking the postponement of the works until after the Christmas trading period, said: “The impact of the road closure has been quite devastating for my boutique and gift shop, but even more so for the restaurants and take away businesses which have been hit particularly hard.

“The effects are still being felt as people get out of the habit of going to the village for shopping/takeaways and go elsewhere.

“I haven’t calculated numbers, but each trader has incurred losses of between 30-50 per cent and we are still doing so, even though the road is back open. The village continues to be like a ghost town but hopefully, that will change next week once people are fully aware of the road reopening.

“We are currently exploring the possibility of litigation and claiming against SCC.”

Surrey County Council is being invited to comment.

See also: East Horsley Road Closure During Christmas Trading ‘Beggars Belief’ and East Horsley Road Closure Shows a ‘Callous Disregard’ says County Councillor

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