The Vale of Glamorgan Council has re-iterated that the link road between Barry and Barry Island is still on schedule for a summer opening – despite doubts being raised by residents and traders again.

The much-called-for route was scheduled to open in July 2015.

It is now scheduled to open in summer 2016 – a year after the original completion date and two years after construction began.

But people living and working in the area believe an autumn opening is a more realistic date.

Ian Bailey, chairman of the Barry Island residents association group, said: “Three years ago next week I called a public meeting to discuss a campaign to get the second access road built. Nearly three years ago [Vale council leader] Neil Moore, [Vale AM] Jane Hutt and [councillor] Lis Burnett posed for pictures at the steps on Clive Road claiming victory that they had struck a deal to have the road open by July 2015.

"But w, the residents of Barry Island, are still being fobbed off with excuses. Now we are told it could be as long as October before its open. Enough is enough. The road is all but finished and we want to know now when it will be opened.”

Barry Island café owner, Marco Zeraschi said: “The second road to and from Barry and Barry Island cannot get here quick enough. We on the island – that is residents and businesses – would have life made easier for us. Visitors would be able to come and go without the stressful wait."

High Street trader, Bob Armstrong, owner of Dr Bob’s Balloons, said he believed the nearby shopping hub had been affected by people queuing to get on and off the island along the adjacent Broad Street and that customers had been deterred from being caught up in the chaos.

“We’ve lost a lot of trade,” he said.

But in a joint statement, a spokesman for the Vale council and the Barry Waterfront Consortium, who are responsible for the road’s construction, said: “We continue to work together towards a summer opening. Construction of the new road is currently reaching the most complex part of the project with its final connection into the existing road network at Barry Island. Accordingly neither the council nor the consortium can guarantee that there will not be any delays. However, it is our joint intention to ensure the new link to the Island is opened up in time for the summer holidays.”