Temporary tarmac will replace missing paving stones in Farnham’s long-running roadworks after contractors ran out of materials.

Surrey County Council (SCC) confirmed its contractor Ringway will install a temporary surface in The Borough to keep the project on schedule, with proper paving to follow later.

The shortage comes after it emerged the firm had not ordered enough of the “unique” paving slabs required for the scheme, which are sourced from a single supplier and have limited availability.

Farnham town mayor Cllr George Murray said the situation was “not ideal” and warned the street “will look a bit rubbish for a while”.

Construction work on new pavements, road surfaces and traffic lights is continuing, with The Borough still expected to reopen by the end of March. Contractors will return at a later date to replace the tarmac with the originally planned paving stones.

A SCC spokesperson said: “To keep the project on time, work has begun in Castle Street. On the eastern side works have started outside the Giggling Squid and will move down towards The Borough. A second team will subsequently start on the western side from the junction with The Borough and work up.

“The road will initially be narrowed to keep construction teams safe, but temporary two-way traffic lights will be in use once The Borough has reopened. We are still on track for all works to be completed by the end of the year as planned.”

Alec Lothian, who works at Disking Computers, said: “At least the road will be open soon. I think this is the most important thing for businesses, as if the roads are open for summer, business will get much more footfall.

“I think what I’ve seen from the Union Road junction makes me think that The Borough will look nicer once complete.”

Micky Singh, who owns three properties on The Borough, said: “It is a shame that this is happening and someone needs to be held accountable. We cannot set up broadband in our new shop until these roadworks are completed.

“It is destroying businesses and more will be going under. This same issue happened in Leatherhead and after the roadworks were complete it turned into a ghost town.

“Farnham’s footfall will take ages to recover after the roadworks and the council needs to support businesses more instead of sending us a huge business rates bill.”

Cllr Murray added: “It is not ideal, but at least it does not delay the opening of The Borough. It will look a bit rubbish for a while.

“I just hope that they commit to completing the block work overnight, so it will not be closed during the day once again.”