LONG-suffering motorists and pedestrians have been promised that the beautification work on Old Northern Road in the Castle Hill CBD will be finished by Christmas, in spite of a new delay in the start date.

The work involves replacing the existing kerbs, gutters and footpaths with wider pedestrian areas and planting of shade trees and ground cover plants.

The work was to start yesterday with Old Northern Road between Showground and Crane roads closed to all traffic except buses.

However, the full closure has been postponed for two weeks while The Hills Council makes ``some minor modifications'' requested by the RTA to traffic signals.

Project manager Stephen Barnes said the delay was frustrating but the RTA had given permission for temporary traffic control arrangement, which meant the kerbside lane on the western side of Old Northern Road would be subject to temporary closure over the next fortnight to allow workers to remove the footpath.

The choice of granite pavers for the project was challenged by Hills Shire Labor councillors. They submitted a motion to rescind the council's July 13 decision to accept a $527,000 tender to supply and install pavers imported from China, rather than a locally quarried product. The rescission motion was unsuccessful after what Liberal councillor Justin Taunton said was a ``heated debate'', around the question of amending the council's procurement policy to stipulate a preference for Australian or local products when assessing tenders. Councillors Tony Hay and Barbara Burton have submitted a notice of motion, to be debated at tonight's council meeting, for the general manager to develop a procurement policy with weighting for local preference, in line with the state government's recently adopted procurement guidelines for 20per cent Australian and New Zealand content. Cr Taunton said the council was bound to seek the best price, rather than worry about whether a product was local or imported. Although he did not participate in contract debate, after declaring a pecuniary interest, mayor Peter Dimbrowsky responded to a comment by Cr Burton, published in the News on July20. Cr Dimbrowsky said in a letter that Cr Burton's comment he ``was turning his back on local business, heritage and the identity of the hire'' over the matter was ``offensive and nothing short of ludicrous''.

The Main Street Project site office is at Shop 4, 268 Old Northern Road, Castle Hill, phone 98430496.