SHOPPERS and traders were left open-mouthed after workers dug up parts of a new town centre pavement just days after it had been laid.

Fourteen sections of the 2,000 square metres of paving had to be pulled back up in Kirkland to install lamp-posts.

The move has been blasted by traders, shoppers and councillors as “absolutely ridiculous” and a “grotesque waste of public money”.

Project bosses are still calculating the cost of ripping the pavements up a second time then re-laying them.

Workmen took seven weeks to lay the roads and paving, but then 17 days to take parts of it back up and install the street lighting and another week to put the pavements back in order.

County Highways boss John Bath said the new road was dug up because it took 14 weeks for lamp-posts to arrive and the paving could not wait.

Bad weather and delays to work by United Utilites has meant building work may continue into the Easter weekend.

The road upgrade has already cost £325,000. Just over £165,000 has come from council tax payers through contributions made by South Lakeland District Council and Cumbria County Council.

The disruption has sparked complaints from local traders.

Mad Monks music shop manager Peter Shaw said the work which started in January had thrown the town into confusion.

He said: “Builders have spent quite a lot of time at Kirkland.

"They used half of it to put the paving down and the other half pulling it back up again.”

Allan Lloyd, of ABC Lloyds, Stramongate, said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous.

"They had only just finished sealing up the paving and the next day it was being ripped up again.

“What a grotesque waste of public money.”

South Lakeland District councillor Colin Hodgson said: “It beggars belief that professional people put plans into operation and then have to return later to finish the job.”

County Highways boss John Bath said: “The lamp-posts took 14 weeks to arrive and we couldn’t leave gaps to slot them into later because holes would be a safety hazard and fill up with rainwater.”

South Lakeland District councillor Graham Vincent said paving was put down before the lighting arrived because money from CCC, SLDC, the North West Development Agency and the new K Village was offered under the condition the road was completed by the end of the financial year.

Kendal Futures manager Joanne Golton said: “We have to be patient but the project will soon give Kirkland back to pedestrians by making the street wider.”