BOURNEMOUTH businesses are suffering because pleas for better signs surrounding the A338 roadworks have fallen on deaf ears, it has been claimed.

Angry hoteliers and town centre traders raised their concerns over inadequate signage at a high-level meeting with Dorset County Council officers on September 30.

But they say that promised improvements have never been made and the county council's inaction has fuelled growing resentment.

In response, council officers say attempts to increase signage have been hindered by bureaucracy but they have taken criticism on board and are constantly working to minimise inconvenience.

Graham Robinson, of Bournemouth Area Hospitality Association, said: "They had to do the work, nobody's arguing about that and I'm sure it's going to be better in the end. But our point is that they should have thought it through better and minimised it for everybody.

"Dorset County Council has not been as co-operative as they could have been and the signage problems are a perfect example of that.

"To put better signs up would not take a lot of effort but despite promising us action, they have not delivered."

But David Gibb, head of highways client services at Dorset County Council, said they had put up new signs for traffic travelling eastbound on the A31, in advance of the Cooper Dean roundabout on the Wessex Way and on Castle Lane.

"A day doesn't go by without us looking at our programme to see if we can buy a little more time anywhere," he said. "I was very conscious that Bournemouth and Christchurch residents and businesses were suffering and we were very pleased to be able to open the southbound 'off' sliproad ahead of schedule."

Motorists are being urged to take care using the newly-reopened sliproad as it has been reduced to a single lane.

Both A338 carriageways and the slipround onto the northbound Spur Road should be reopened by November 15.

First published: October 27