A coastal business is losing 60 per cent of its income through road closures.

Bill James, of Bank Mill Nurseries at Beckfoot said a possible three-week closure of the road between Maryport and Allonby will have a huge impact on his takings and lose him customers who may never return.

The B5300 is being closed in two phases to allow resurfacing.

The part from the junction with the A596 at to the Crosscanonby turning was closed on Friday last week. Once work is finished on this section, the road will close between Crosscanonby and Allonby.

A county council spokesman said attempts were being made to keep residents' access open where possible and to allow passage for emergency vehicles and the school bus.

He said letters were sent out to all affected parties prior to the work being done.

Mr James maintained that there was no need to close the road completely.

"The contractors are doing this for their own convenience. I don't see why they can't have controlled traffic," he said.

He said his staff had to detour to get to work at the weekend.

"Weekends are our busy times. Customers don't want to follow long diversions so they go somewhere else - and if they find somewhere else they like, they don't bother coming back here."

The council spokesman said the work needed to be carried out to maintain the road and that closure was the safest and most efficient way to do it.

"We apologise for the inconvenience but it has to be done," he said.