A Lisnaskea businessman fears he will “go out of business” if the road that his “seasonal” company is on is closed for four months this summer.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has announced that a £350,000 bridge replacement scheme is due to commence on Majors Bridge, Lisnaskea on Monday April 29.

According to the DfI website, due to the nature of the works, and to ensure the safety of the road users and workers, the Lisnagole Road will be closed while the new bridge is under construction.

It is understood that a single lane closure will be in place during the week commencing April 29 to facilitate initial preliminary work which will be followed by a full road-closure between May 6 and August 31 while the remainder of the work takes place.

At a meeting in Lisnaskea on Tuesday, the DfI in response to concerns raised said they will look into the timing of the scheduled works.

David Watson, director of Quay Garden Structures which is based on the Lisnagole Road is concerned that the closure of the road during the months of May, June, July and August will have an adverse effect on his seasonal business.

“Our issue is not the works, we’re quite happy to see that the investment has been made in the upgrade to the bridge, our issue is the timing. From our perspective, spring and summer is the busiest time of the year,” said Mr. Watson.

He continued: “We are a seasonal business. If we don’t have the turnover that we require, during these months of May, June, July and August we are going to go out of business, it’s quite as simple as that.”

Mr. Watson stated that the only satisfactory outcome is that the works are postponed on the basis that the DfI did not consult with businesses in advance. He believes the works should be rescheduled for either September, October, November 2019 or January, February, March 2020. Mr. Watson added: “We feel that that is a reasonable compromise given the fact that they have not consulted with us at all.”

The DfI held a public consultation meeting at the Lisnaskea Business Complex on Tuesday April 16 which was attended by local business people who will be affected by the road closure. Councillors and members of the press were refused entry to the actual meeting. Councillor Garbhan McPhillips was one of the local Councillors who was refused entry. He said: “I have been contacted by several businesses and residents voicing their concerns about the disruption the current plan would have on the local businesses, facilities and residents.

“For the record I totally understand that the work has to be done and am supportive of this work. I simply wanted to attend today’s meeting not only as a public representative, representing the people of my constituency, but as a resident also.”

Wesley Warrington of Delta House and Home, Lisnaskea commented that local business people at the meeting were “disappointed” in how little notice they were given about the upcoming road closure.

He said: “Leaflets were dropped in to the businesses last week and that was the first the businesses were aware that this major construction of the bridge was taking place.”

He continued: “Obviously businesses are concerned about how it will impact on their own particular business. It’s the main route into Lisnaskea from Enniskillen and from that side of the county, so it’s going to cause disruption for customers of businesses and for businesses that have goods going in and goods coming out. It’s going to have a major impact on Lisnaskea.”

Mr. Warrington noted that during the meeting the DfI agreed to look at the timing of the works and road closure, and have agreed to work with the businesses as best they can to “mitigate the disruption and the impact on the businesses.”