They say council gave just one week’s notice before Perthviille Bridge was closed and the works began on September 18.

The project was supposed to take six weeks, but that time has come and works are clearly not finished with the southern approach to the bridge missing.

The Western Advocate visited Perthville on Friday morning, and two businesses said they were yet to receive any official notification from council that the works had been delayed.

While the owners of Metro Petroleum and Perthville Feed and Rural acknowledge the works were necessary, they say council had not kept them informed during the process.

Metro Petroleum’s Raja Kallem said council’s road diversions around the village, due to the closed bridge, have led to a dramatic drop in customers.

“I’m closing early and opening late,” he said. “I’m losing three hours of trade each day.”

Mr Kallem said the reduced operating hours have left some of his customers angry because instead of being able to fill up in Perthville, they are forced to double back to Bathurst.

“After 3pm, it’s not worth staying open,” he said.

“I’m paying money to run the business.”

In an effort to encourage more customers, Mr Kallem has dropped his fuel prices by 23 cents a litre compared to Bathurst, but he said this has not worked.

With more notice of the works starting, he said he could have adjusted his staffing levels and undertaken advertising to let customers know the business would continue trading during the flood works.

“There’s been a lack of communication, but I understand it has to be done, any government work has to be done,” he said.

Perthville Feed and Rural owner Christian Ilieff said his takings had dropped 50 to 60 per cent during the past six weeks of council’s flood mitigation works.

“We had a full day without electricity, I can’t trade without electricity,” he said.

“They’ve knocked out the water mains twice.

“There’s no consultation and the job’s been poorly done.”

Mr Ilieff said council’s lack of consultation had led to anger in Perthville.

“There’s a lot of angry people in the community about the lack of communication, the delays and the unsafe detour,” he said.

“They’re already doing patch jobs on that detour.”

Bathurst council engineering services director Darren Sturgiss could not provide a works completion date.

“It is anticipated that this will be likely to be a period of 4-5 weeks, weather dependent,” he said.