businesses have been dealt a major blow with the news Dartmouth's Lower Ferry will not now restart for weeks.

The latest delay means that ferry operation will almost certainly still be shut as the town's annual music festival – expected to bring up to 20,000 people flooding into the town – gets under way in a fortnight's time.

Lower Street traders are already complaining that their businesses have been clobbered by the ferry closure as more and more people keep away from that part of the town.

Dart Music Festival committee vice chairman Alan Depledge warned that the Higher Ferry queues are growing so long they are backing up around Coronation Park.

He added: 'This is obviously a great disappointment for us. I think we are going to struggle a bit getting people in and out of Dartmouth.'

The music festival is staging more than 100 acts at indoor and outdoor venues across the town – all of them free.

He said the delay in getting the ferry working was a 'blow' to both the festival and businesses.

Business forum chairman Paul Reach said: 'This is seriously bad news for the town. It is critical for the town. We have just had a bad season, the fire and the weather and now this ferry closure.'

The £1m South Hams Council project to re-build the ferry slipways at both Kingswear and Dartmouth is now getting on for two months behind schedule.

The work began in January and it was supposed to have been completed before Easter.

This week South Hams Council said the ferry is unlikely to reopen for 'some weeks' after the project fell behind schedule.

He said: 'The delay has been caused by a combination of factors including difficult ground conditions, underwater obstructions and some delays on the supply of specialist engineering materials.'

Cllr Bill Hitchins, whose brief includes the ferry, added: 'We understand the frustrations of residents, businesses and visitors in the town and can only apologise for the delay.

'Please be assured that we are doing everything we can to get the ferry back in operation as soon as possible.'

The council has not given a new date for the ferry reopening but Mr Reach claimed he had been told it will not now be until June.

Mr Depledge said the 'footfall' in the Lower Street area had plummeted because of the ferry closure.

'Firms in this part of the town have really struggled and this is something extra that we don't need,' he said.

Mr Reach warned the ferry closure would impact on the music festival.

'It will put people off, especially for the music festival. They come in floods from Brixham and if they see a long ferry queue some of them will turn around and go back,' he said.

South Hams Council last week put out road signs in Lower Street, College Way and near the Boatfloat to tell people that Lower Street and Bayards Cove was still open for business.

Mr Reach pointed out that the most dominant thing on the signs had been the word 'closed' which appeared to be making things even worse.

He said: 'People have not been reading the signs fully – just seeing "closed" – and think the whole place is shut.'