A Norton businessman has spoken of his anger over the persistent closure of the main road through the town for 'no good reason'.

Tony Boorman, owner of Tyke 2000 Ltd in Church Street, said the fuel station had lost thousands of pounds after the road was closed for five days in November.

Church Street has again been closed today (Friday) due to rising river levels.

Tony said: "I’d like to vent my anger over the road closures on Church Street which has been closed at the County Bridge end several times over the past month.

"This is due to the pipes from Yorkshire Waters pumps being on the footpath. Pedestrians can’t be trusted to walk around or over these pipes so they have to walk in the road and so the road is closed.

"We all love the flood pumps. They save our businesses and our homes from any flooding coming up from the drains. Yorkshire Water spent £1,000s putting a connecting pipe under Church Street to avoid the road being closed for them now to close it for now good reason. The last few years the system has worked well. The road has not needed to be closed. What has changed now? A simple ramp over the pipes on the footpath would solve this but Yorkshire Water and Highways don’t seem to be able to fathom this.

"The drains on Church Street are Yorkshire Water's responsibility. We are not flooded on Church Street by the river but by the drains. This is a problem of their making and a solution should be theirs.

"Over the last period of road closure from November 18 to 23 we lost over £30,000. This can not be right or fair.

"Just to clarify, this is not just Yorkshire Water but also Highways. Highways are the ones closing the road due to the footpath obstruction. Ironically Yorkshire Water contractors were fitting a ramp from the road up onto the footpath this morning.

"If they can do that they can sort a ramp for the pipes over the footpath, you would think?"

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said when Church Street was last shut: “We’ve been working closely with North Yorkshire Council and the Environment Agency on the multi-agency flood plan to respond to high river and groundwater levels in Malton and Norton in recent weeks. As part of this, all organisations deployed temporary pumps to help protect homes and businesses from flooding. Any long-term solution to reduce the risk of flooding will require ourselves, the Environment Agency, North Yorkshire Council and others to work together. This is not an issue for one single organisation to solve."

They said temporary road closures were put in place to create a pedestrian safe route near the pumps.