A gift shop owner in Oamaru's historic Harbour St has "had a gutsful" of road closures affecting her business and plans to object to the closing of the road for the filming of Mister Pip from August 16 to 19.
Elizabeth Shewan owns Grace, a gift shop in the former Lane's Emulsion building which sells crystals, alpaca clothing, cards, gemstones, jewellery and other gifts. She said yesterday closures in the past had had a major effect on her business.
She also believed other shop owners in Harbour St were not happy with the closure.
Harbour St was chosen as a location for the film, based on Lloyd Jones' best-selling book, to represent Victorian London.
It has been used in the past for films and advertisements.
The council will advertise the proposed road closure for Mister Pip today, calling for objections by August 10 before making a decision.
Ms Shewan said yesterday she had not been consulted by the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, which managed bookings for films and road closures.
"I'm appalled no-one has informed me of their intentions."
The road closure, combined with other road closures and roadworks in lower Thames St, Itchen St and at the Humber St bridge, had had a major impact on her business.
"They have affected all businesses down here [in the historic precinct], particularly over the last three months. Locals know where to find us, but visitors just drive back to the main road," she said.
Ms Shewan said a news report in Saturday's Otago Daily Times was the first she had heard about closing the Harbour St for the film.
Over the past five years she had had to put up with the street being closed a number of times, with the trust earning revenue hiring it out to film companies.
On one occasion, when she complained about the effect on her business, the trust calculated the profit for the same day the previous year and paid what Ms Shewan said was a fraction of what she would have taken.
Businesses should be "fairly compensated" for the loss of trade because the trust would have been generously paid, she said.
Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust secretary Faye Ormandy could not be contacted yesterday.
However, in the past, film companies wishing to use Oamaru locations in the historic area usually arranged it through the Waitaki Development Board, Waitaki District Council and the trust. Affected businesses were usually contacted and, on some occasions, had been offered compensation for loss of trade.
