TRADERS in Nelson say plans to paint their shopping centre car park are the final straw.

For the past year the centre has been undergoing a £4million redevelopment which shops claim has been losing them business.

Now, after months of delays, traders have been sent a letter from centre administrator Alison Cowburn telling them the car park will be repainted in the weeks running up to Christmas.

Eileen Ansar, of First Avenue Fashions, who has been in the centre for 12 years, is furious.

She said: "Why can't the work be done in the New Year when it won't cause any problems at all?

"How much worse do they want to make the centre?

"We are not against progress but the shops can't survive. We're not meeting our targets, not anywhere near. Many shops are cutting back on staff. At this time of year we should be employing more staff. This is going to hit us even harder.

"If we can't make money before Christmas what are we going to do after it when the quietest time of the year comes?"

Work to paint the car park was starting today with decks three and four closing for a week. The following week decks one and two will be painted. The work is expect to finish on December 10.

The move follows months of delays on the shopping centre's extension which was due for completion in the summer. Now flagship new store Wilkinson is not expected to be open until the new year.

Claire Bythell runs The Coffee Shop and signed her lease just six weeks before the building work started.

She said: "It's ridiculous, it's just adding insult to injury.

"My business is already down by 30 per cent anyway and it affects it if a lot of people can't park up - they are not going to come in to the centre."