Traders are seething because the Pewsey Road bridge in Marlborough will not be re-opening as planned on Monday, unless warmer weather returns today.

They see it as a broken promise by Wiltshire Council, although its contractors Mouchel say no-one is to blame because it’s been too cold to lay concrete.

Shopkeepers had been hoping that the re-opening of the bridge for the busy Christmas period would attract shoppers back to the town and make up for the trade lost as a result of the traffic delays caused by Pewsey Road being closed.

Wiltshire Council had promised to re-open the road one-way – with traffic going from George Lane towards Bath Road – for the whole of December but this week the Gazette learned that, because of the icy November weather, the bridge work had been delayed.

A Wiltshire Council spokeswoman said: “There have been problems with getting the concrete for the new bridge because of the very cold weather.

“The concrete plant where it comes from has not been able to open because of the cold and they have not been able to get the concrete to us.

“They cannot make concrete when temperatures fall below freezing so we have to wait for the weather to warm up.”

Estate agent Jonathan Conning at Henry George in Kingsbury Street said: “If that is the case it could be March before the work is completed to the point where they can get the bridge open one-way.

“They blame the cold weather but others will see this as a continuation of the mistakes they have made all along.”

David Dudley, the High Street jeweller whose wife owns the Kim Vine boutique, said the town’s Retail Forum, of which he is a member, had not been notified about the delay and only learned the news via the Gazette.

He said: “It’s going to be very painful for a lot of the shops in Marlborough this Christmas.”

Bev Birkett, who runs Ducklings Toyshop in Hilliers Yard, summed up her feelings in two words: “B****y awful” and added: “It’s appalling because they promise you one thing and then go back on it.

She said: “Every time I have driven down Granham Hill and looked at the bridge in the last few days I have said there was no way they could get it open by next Monday.”