A road closure will be enforced on the A387 between Polperro and West Looe starting on November 4.

The closure is planned to be in place until December 20 as the next phase of work to repair the retaining wall on Polperro Road begins.

The work will be carried out Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 11pm, with some weekend working as required. Emergency access will be maintained between those times while the workforce is on site.

Work to repair a further retaining wall on North Road has already begun. Both projects will be carried out simultaneously with North Road closed to traffic for the same duration.

Signs will be placed at major junctions, the local authority says, prior to the road closure on the key routes to take non-through traffic away and keep traffic disruption to a minimum.

Access into the road to Millpool Cottages from Bridgend will be permitted, and ‘businesses open as usual’ signage will be in place at Bridgend.

Access to the Millpool car park will also be restricted to vehicles from Polperro and Pelynt.

A diversion route is in place via Looe Bridge, Quay Road and West Looe Hill. Two-way traffic lights will be installed along Quay Road and Looe Bridge to help ensure effective traffic flow in the area.

School and Callywith bus services will not be affected by the road closure with school bus given access during 7.30am - 8.30am, 3.15pm - 3.45pm and 5.30pm - 6.00pm, but local bus services will be hit.

Go Cornwall has advised the following changes to services to Looe and Polperro:

Services 10, 73 and 73A will terminate at West Looe and not serve stops towards Polperro. Service 77 will serve Polperro, Pelynt to Liskeard in both directions but will not serve Looe.

Services 481 and 482 will continue to operate between Looe Millpool Car Park and Polperro. These services will not be serving the centre of Looe or Hanafore.

Cornwall Council highway’s team at Cormac has advised the works need to be carried out as soon as possible as poor winter conditions may cause further damage to the wall.

They said: “Please be assured every effort will be made to minimise disruption. We appreciate your patience and cooperation while the work takes place.”

Residents are saying the diversion put in place along West Looe Hill will become quickly gridlocked and the hill is just too steep for elderly residents; the local’s nickname for it is cardiac hill.

Cllr Armand Toms said: “It has been a poor season for some businesses in the town and we will lose some from this down turn. We will be talking to officers within Cornwall Council to see what other help and grants are available to the town and businesses.”