Newsagent John Muddle said "Cowra Council seem to be operating under the misguided assumptions that the main street project has been well run and that working at night will get this project finished quicker".

"Anyone with the most basic understanding of time management knows that if you work the same number of hours at night as you were working during the day it will take exactly the same amount of time to complete the job," Mr Muddle said.

He says all council will accomplish by doing the work at night is waste $37,000 of ratepayers money.

"If Cr Miller (who was quoted in the June 2 article) had been with me on Tuesday morning I'm sure I could change his opinion on how well this project has been run," Mr Muddle said.

"I was greeted by 30 metres of safety barriers when no work was being done or had even been done the previous night on one side of the road and on the other was a container, a forklift and a skip bin all blocking parking spaces that are essential if small business is to get through what is already a tough enough period.

"If this was a one off occurrence you could probably overlook it but this has been happening for eight long months now and is having a massive impact on everyone in the community and smacks of an administration that simply doesn't get it.

"One of the things about running a Newsagency is that you get to meet people from every part of the community, although interestingly enough in the five years since the main street redevelopment began the only group of people who haven't asked us how its affecting our business is Cowra's councillors or its senior management.

"If we leave aside the amount of drought assistance money they have poured into this project or the fact that Council has just missed a golden opportunity during the Covid pandemic to pull out all stops and get this project completed while the state was in a partial lockdown, or the fact that of all the money being spent most of it is going to out of town contractors or suppliers.

"I feel I must congratulate them on one thing, it is basically impossible to get people to agree on anything but everyone I have met and spoken to in the last year all agree that this has been a badly run colossal waste of money, and that is a rare feat indeed."

Mr Muddle thanked Cowra shoppers who have continued to "brave the mess of the main street to support the businesses that operate there".

"It is something that does not go unnoticed by owners and proprietors and something that will be crucial in the coming months and years," he said.

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