Traders are demanding compensation for long-running roadworks they claim have dealt a devastating blow to their livelihoods.

Businesses in and around Oxford's Botley Road complain that trade has plummeted following months of disruptive roadworks, which have prompted commuters to shop elsewhere.

Jeff Harris, of Harris Chemist, has appealed to the district valuer for business rates paid by traders in the area to be reduced for the period of roadworks. Traders should then get money they have already paid back as compensation.

He is angry that when new roadworks begin on the nearby A34 traffic will be directed down Botley Road - hurting traders and commuters even more.

Mr Harris said: "This is a protest about the slow progress of the job. Over the last four months we must have lost about 20 per cent of our business and the other traders say the same. "The golf range in Binsey reckon it would be cheaper for them to have closed for that period.

"The owner of Binsey Farm has been devastated because he usually gets a lot of people from north Oxford coming over in the evening. The traffic congestion and delays have stopped people travelling.

"People who normally go to Hartwell's at the top of Botley Road have been told to go to the Cowley branch instead, so they don't lose time going down the road and back. We have lost that passing trade.

"Will the business that has been lost come back?"

In collecting signatures for a petition demanding a rate adjustment for businesses, he has found other traders suffering in similar ways.

He said: "The White House has complained that whereas they used to have a very big lunchtime trade from Botley that has gone completely. What used to be a two-minute ride in the car or bus has been taking half an hour."

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