BUSINESS owners are to have their say on a proposal to pedestrianise Clitheroe town centre.

The plan, which could be backed by a new Town Centre Team at its launch next week, would see Castle Street closed to traffic during normal trading hours.

The new team will include local business owners and borough and county councillors and would aim to submit reports to both Ribble Valley Borough Council and Lancashire County Council about economic regeneration in the town.

The full membership of the group is set to be revealed in the next few days, with its official launch next week.

David Brass, owner of Banana News, said: “I’m broadly in favour of the plans as long as times were given for deliveries.

“It would allow people to walk around more and take their time going from shop to shop.

“It would also be a good idea to open up the walkways to the market and link Castle Street with that area as well.”

But Nick Gell, manager at Cowmans Famous Sausage Shop, said: “This plan simply would not be a good change for the town and I can’t see many other traders thinking that it would.

“It’s fine to close the road on special one-off days during the year but it wouldn’t work on a normal day in Clitheroe.”

Linda Dixon, owner of Tots To Teens, said: “I can’t see it being a success because Castle Street relies on people driving past the shops and being encouraged to stop and go in.

“If no cars were allowed in the street then that would be taken away and a lot of shops might go unnoticed.”

Borough councillor Ged Mirfin, who has been helping to lead the drive for the establishment of a Town Centre Team alongside Coun Kevin Horkin, said that it would be of ‘enormous benefit’ to the town and that it would help ‘secure the town centre’s economic prosperity in the years to come’.

Coun Mirfin said: “There has been growing support for this idea from constituents over the last few weeks and it would make a big difference to Clitheroe.

“The members of the team would push for the right issues to be addressed by the councils and will put the residents’ concerns and ideas to them and let their voices be heard.

“We could follow the example set by the food festival by pedestrianising Castle Street and encouraging traders to set up in the road.”