North Street is to stay closed until at least Friday lunchtime as builders work to make Boots’ roof safe.
A cordon around the building on the corner of North Street and Queens Road has been in place since yesterday lunchtime.
Since then, traffic has been diverted along the seafront and through North Laine due to the roof being damaged in Storm Kathleen.
Brighton and Hove City Council says that Boots are engaging contractors and agreeing a timescale to make the roof secure but that bad weather could delay the urgent repairs.
Businesses in the immediate area of the cordon will be asked to remain closed to protect their customers and staff.
Councillor Trevor Muten, chair of the Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “The strong winds during Storm Kathleen earlier this week has caused damage to Boots roof requiring the closure of North Street in order to undertake urgent repairs.
“We wish to thank residents and businesses for their continued cooperation and patience while this is underway.
“We are working with Boots who are responsible for making the roof structure secure. They have told us that they are engaging contractors and the timescale is being agreed today.
“We’ve stressed to Boots the urgency of these repairs and of re-opening the roads affected for pedestrians, bus passengers and businesses.”
The council says the risk of materials becoming detached and falling onto the road below is a “very real and serious hazard” to pedestrians and vehicles.
A statement from the council says it has reiterated to Boots the need for the closure period to be kept to an absolute minimum.
Boots will deploy personnel to provide guidance to residents and visitors on alternative routes and facilitating urgent access.
A Boots spokesperson said: “The Boots store on North Street in Brighton remains open for customers via the Queens Road entrance.
“We are working hard to resolve the roofing issue, which was caused by high winds in the area as quickly and as safely as possible.”
Affected residents and local businesses are to be updated by letter this afternoon.
Nick Hill, commercial director at Brighton and Hove Buses, said: “North Street is the most used street on our network, with around 200 busy buses passing through each hour, and it is important to us to keep them running and thus keep more cars off the road.
“We currently have a number of diversions in place and we are monitoring traffic flow and making alterations where necessary to keep services moving while the works continue.
“Passengers can keep updated on these via our app and our website: buses.co.uk.”
Most of Brighton and Hove Buses’ routes will be diverted as a result. The affected services are:
1
1A
2
5
5A
5B
7
Coaster 12
12A
12X
14
14A
14C
18
21
22
24
26
Coaster Local 27
Regency 28
Regency 29
29A
29B
46
48
49
50
it does NOT requiring the closure of North Street = SCAREMONGERING NONSENSE =
Excellent argument from an authoritative standpoint, exercising your anonymity and constraint to prevent the reveal of your structural engineering credentials and your impact assessment on the potential for harm to the public, while still appearing to reach a conclusion. Well done.
🤣 thank you for this
WHY HASN’T NORTH STREET BEEN OPENED QUICKER IT’S TAKING HOURS TO COME ALONG THE SEAFRONT AND UP WEST STREET NOT GOOD ENOUGH TONY BLOOM FANCY A GAME OF CARDS TONE ?
It will open quicker if people stoped posting all caps rants.
Boots should be charged for the disruption they are causing. I suspect poor maintenance a bigger factor than high winds.