TRAFFIC lights and scaffolding on the £1.4million Bridport Town Hall project is causing chaos, it has been warned, Councillors have called for changes to signals phasing and signs to stop queues gridlocking the town centre.

Shopkeepers also fear a loss of trade at the busiest time of the year.

It has also been warned that some residents are steering clear of the town because of the hold-ups while scaffolding is up for 15 weeks over the summer.

The comments came at a town council’s highways and transportation sub-committee.

Coun Phil Lathey said: “The traffic lights should be switched off and temporary lights put in. People stopping are causing chaos.”

Scaffolding around the hall juts out into the road forcing traffic into a single lane.

Coun Lathey added: “Because of the traffic people are going elsewhere.”

Coun David Rickard warned the traffic lights phasing was causing absolute chaos while Coun Sarah Williams said that the green filter on the lights was not letting vehicles out.

Coun Martin warned that signs telling motorists to wait for the green light needed to warn them to stop at red instead. He said that motorists ended up stuck in the road and stopping the traffic flow. Shopkeepers at the Rainbow gift shop and the Get Stuffed sandwich shop in Bucky Doo Square also raised concerns.

Linda Younghusband, of Rainbow, said she appreciated that the end result would be fantastic but that business was being affected.

“It is not funny. Something needs to be done. There are signs saying businesses are still trading but they are tiny.”

Andrew Peters, co-owner of Get Stuffed, said temporary toilets had been placed near his business and that trade was down.

“We are doing worse now than we were in February. People can’t see us because of the hoardings and worse than that are the toilets.

“No-one wants to hang around a food shop. The toilets smell, are gross and tatty. We build funds through over the summer to see us through the winter. We are going to have three winters on the trot.”

Town surveyor Daryl Chambers said at the meeting that the council put in the application for scaffolding and were told how to manage it with the signs by Dorset County Council.

He said that he would raise the signs with the county council as well as the issue of temporary traffic lights.

He added that the lorry to put up the scaffolding had gone and that it was as clear as a bell when he had been down the road recently.

Town clerk Mr Gillis said that the council had always promised to monitor the situation.