A GROUP of businesses are breathing a sigh of relief after a developer decided not to close a road for two weeks.

Shops on King Street, Richmond, now only face a two day closure after it was decided to connect number 17 to water services by tunnelling rather than over ground work.

Heather Morrison, assistant manager of Neal's Yard Remedies and someone opposed to the road closure, said: "The owner of the building has decided to arrange the work in a some what different way, which costs him a lot more money but which means we won't be disrupted for quite such a long time.

"The work has got to happen and so you have to agree with this."

In a letter, hand delivered to nearby businesses and residents, Abraday Properties Limited, working on behalf of the developer, stated: "Thames Water advise that the connection should only take one day, but a second has been programmed should the works run into any unforeseen difficulties."

Despite these reassurances, Mrs Morrison remains upset with the way the process has been handled. Two weeks earlier, a letter was sent out to all business and residents stating that the road would be closed for two weeks. It later emerged that the permission had not been given for this closure.

"I feel the PR could have been better in the first instance," insists Mrs Morrison. "The original letter made it sound as if a two week closure was a done deal."

The latest letter said: "The local authority would like us to state that the initial letter was not fully approved by them, their telephone number was given out by mistake and they were not the main contacts for the work."

Neil Harris, a director of Abraday, confirmed the change in road closure was due to a shift in development policy. He added: "It is the clients wish to tunnel so as not to upset the neighbours, and also because of a party wall issue."

Despite the fact that the original letter contained no contact information, Mr Harris continued: "I feel upset that no one came and spoke to us. All the people in the shops work ten yards from where we are all the time and none said anything.

"We have always been here to talk to, we have the site office in the building."

A spokesman for Richmond council confirmed that permission has been granted for the road closure between numbers three and 17 King Street, Richmond, on April 19 and 20 to install a new water mains connection.

The work is permitted under the New Roads and Streetworks Act. Permission has also been granted for closure of the footpath outside number 17 between April 13 and 18 for new electricity connections.

The work is being carried out by Thames Water and the electricity installations by EDF Energy.

Cars will be diverted along George Street, the Quadrant, and Kew Road, onto the Twickenham Road (A316), down Parkshot onto the Little Green and The Green. Access will also be available via Water Lane and River Side except at high tide.