A business owner has voiced her frustration as work to replace parking with a cycle lane gets underway.

Jackie Neat fears the removal of parking outside her business The Whimsical Kitchen on St Denys Road will have a detrimental effect.

The existing parking is set to be transformed into a cycle lane in the new year, while crossing points are added to the road this month.

She is concerned the lack of parking in the area will result in her losing customers.

Jackie said: “The work will affect our business and other businesses.

“It feels like it’s totally out of our hands no matter how much we say about it, and how many times people say they want the basics of the road fixed, like potholes.

“There are so many other things that need doing.

“I understand the pot of money is for this scheme and can’t be used in other areas, but it is unfortunate.

“The residents of St Denys already struggle for parking, there’s nowhere for cars to go.

“We are fighting a losing battle.”

READ MORE: Business owners hit out at plans to replace parking with cycle lane

She added: “When the temporary traffic lights were on St Denys Road, that affected our trade by up to 50 per cent.

“Traffic goes all the way back to the Triangle, so no one can park.”

The scheme by Southampton City Council will see new crossing points added to the road, in addition to new, segregated cycle lanes.

The first phase of works will start on October 16 and will last for 10 weeks.

It will focus on the junction of St Denys Road and Priory Road and a new ‘controlled crossing’ will be installed at all four crossing points.

According to the council, this will make it safer for pedestrians accessing the shops and parents using this busy junction walking their children to school.

Currently, the only crossing point is located across the western point of St Denys Road.

The traffic light system will be fully upgraded to modernise the junctions traffic systems, including advanced cycle signals on all arms of the junction.

Bus priority will also be installed at the junction to make bus journeys faster and more reliable.

The works at the junction will be followed by phase two in the new year, which will see the segregated cycle lanes implemented along St Denys Road in both directions between Priory Road and Kent and Adelaide Road.

Councillor Eamonn Keogh, cabinet member for environment and transport said: “This scheme is a clear example of how we have listened to the community to build a scheme they are happy with and would use.

“Some of the businesses had concerns with the initial designs, we listened to their concerns and have incorporated their feedback into the final designs.

“These measures will improve connections into the city centre and address concerns that residents have raised about safety in the area.”

This project is part of the St Denys Active Travel Zone which started with a survey of residents, visitors and businesses at the end of 2019.

More than 1,000 contributions were received and some clear themes emerged from it relating to concerns about pedestrian and cycling safety, air quality and traffic, particularly on specific roads that are regularly used as rat-runs by through traffic.

Residents of St Denys were then invited to attend a series of co-design workshops, where they worked in groups with a facilitator to identify potential solutions.

Nearly 50 residents and 30 children attended, and the most popular and feasible solutions were presented to the public in September 2021 for comment and questions.

The council say they have consulted extensively on these improvements, including perception surveys.

Following the first Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) in March 2023, the council met with businesses who had further questions about the scheme to discuss alternative options to retain some of the on-street parking and changing the location where the cycle lane would start from.

The new design was then shared with residents and businesses in August and a further TRO carried out.