I OWN a Japanese restaurant in Ambleside and the road closure in November is going to greatly affect our business, as we open in the evenings (Gazette, October 17, 'Road closure sparks anger').

The closure is 6.30pm to 1am. Why the council has not instructed the contractor to close the road from midnight until 6am shows a total lack of fiscal planning, without consulting of small independent restaurants like ours.

The closure was planned for early February and has now moved to the run-up to Christmas.

We have had to inform our customers who have booked with us and they have cancelled.

Staff have to be paid regardless of working or not, as is the law and through no fault of our own.

We have been open for seven months and it doesn't help us or the bed-and-breakfast business. It's just another sign of ill-conceived planning. The small business owners will suffer at the hands of these decision-makers.

Darren Yates

Auradaze Japanese

Ambleside