A road closure that is “killing” businesses is being extended again for more than a week.

The A250 Halfway Road in Minster is currently shut for major gas works.

Work carried out by contractor WCB Utilities started on November 4 and is set to finish on Monday, December 23.

It is part of SGN’s 30-year scheme to replace old gas mains with new, reliable plastic pipes.

Motorists have been experiencing long travel delays on Marine Parade during this time.

Swale council quickly stepped in and made the Ship on Shore car park free to reduce the number of cars parked on the road.

Businesses along the A250 have also spoken about the problems the closure has been causing them.

Fred Ford, who runs Klondyke Cafe, estimates the eatery is £600 worse off every week.

“I’ve already got staff on shorter hours just to try to make it all work,” he said.

“It’s killed us. I am on the verge of closing the doors and waiting till after the gasworks are done to reopen.”

The four local traders who spoke to KentOnline questioned why SGN didn’t wait until after their busiest time of year to start the work.

All of them claim they have had a massive drop in sales.

The boss of Stones Garden Centre, Matthew Waghorn, says he has had to reduce the hours of his seasonal staff because of the fall in customers.

He added: “I cannot understand why the works did not take place in January.

“We also have craft fair dates coming up which could be heavily affected by the closure so we are just hoping people turn out.

“It hasn’t affected our wholesale too much but even then it means our drivers are taking longer to make deliveries.”

They were expecting the road to reopen yesterday (December 6) and switch to a two-way traffic lights system.

The works had already been pushed back another two weeks due to a build-up of debris inside the pipework and further excavation needed.

SGN has now confirmed the opening of the route has been delayed once again.

A spokesman for the gas company said: “Our engineers have carried out investigations on our pipework in Halfway Road and we need to replace approximately 80m of old metal gas mains with new plastic pipe between properties 95 and 125 from next week.

“This unfortunately means the road closure on Halfway Road is now expected to remain in place until the week commencing Monday, December 16.

“Once these essential network upgrades have been completed, we will reopen Halfway Road and complete our work and reinstatement under temporary traffic lights.

“We're sorry for the inconvenience caused by the delay in being able to reopen the road and thank the Sheerness community and businesses for their patience.

“A reminder that all businesses are open as usual, and can be accessed by following our signed diversion route.”