CONTRACTORS laying a gas pipeline in Cross Hills have been given an ultimatum - finish the work by March 19 or face a daily "fine".

The project was supposed to take six weeks, but it is now in its 17th week, with only slow progress being made.

Now North Yorkshire County Council has told United Utilities that it must finish the Main Street part of the works within 10 days.

Area highways manager Chris Craven admitted: "Perhaps we should have done this sooner."

If the work is not completed, the contractors must either move off the site and apply for a new licence to complete the project or face a daily charge of between £100 or £2,000.

"The charge depends on a number of factors but I suspect here it will be towards the top end," explained Mr Craven. "It will hopefully provide extra encouragement for them to finish on time."

However, the contractors will still be able work on the village's side streets.

The saga began back in November when workmen started to dig up the Main Street.

Temporary traffic lights were erected, causing long queues for residents and commuters, and businesses reported a sharp drop in trade.

The finish date has been put back several times and last month United Utilities circulated a letter to those affected apologising for the inconvenience.

In it, engineering design manager Mark Chapman assured residents that the work would be completed within four weeks.

That deadline fell yesterday.

But the traffic lights are still in place and the contractors have not even started their planned work on Ryelands Street and Wheatlands Avenue.

Polly Rourke, a spokesman for United Utilities, admitted that contractors were likely to be on site extra "weeks rather than days".

"Our focus is to get out of the Main Street as quickly as possible," she explained.

She pointed out that the work had been much more difficult than anticipated but the company had moved all available resources to the project.

"It has been hard on the people of Cross Hills - we appreciate that and are very sorry," she said.

"The traffic lights should be removed on March 19 and hopefully that will significantly ease the disruption."

"The remaining work will be small excavations. We are going to be there for a while yet but there should be less disruption."

She added that the new gas main was nearly in place but some connections were still needed to individual service pipes.

Managers were due to talk to traders yesterday and deliver new letters of apology to those affected.

But Gino De Rienzo, manager of the Bella Napoli restaurant - right in the middle of the roadworks - said that apologies would not help his business.

He added: "Our takings are 50 per cent down. It has been an absolute nightmare. People are just not coming to Cross Hills.

"We had our worst Christmas in 30 years. It is soul-destroying. We are an established business but I don't know what we would have done if this had been our first year."

He added that the roadworks had been really badly organised and the contractors should have had people on site seven days a week.

And Peter Whitaker, who runs GE Thornton, agreed.

"To be honest, it is absolutely appalling. The trouble is no-one is accountable. They are doing just what they want. I think it will be Easter before they have finished," he added.

County councillor Philip Barrett said he had no confidence that the roadworks would be completed by March 19.

"It is hopeless," he added. "They are just a law unto themselves. The roadworks have been a complete disaster."

Once the mains work is finished, the contractors have an obligation to ensure the road surface is left in a good state.

Meanwhile, residents in the Victoria Road area of Cross Hills face further disruption as work continues to improve the sewers.

The project, which started last week, is expected to take eight weeks to complete.

And while it is carried out, Victoria Road remains closed to traffic near its junction with Holme Lane.