I AM glad that Mr A Lewis (Letters, May 15) enjoyed his trip to Blackburn town centre, but I would like to correct his mistaken impression that Church Street is a pedestrianised area.

Access is still permitted to vehicles wishing to park or make deliveries to the shopping centre.

In fact, it is far more hazardous to pedestrians now than it was before.

I see we now have a new leader for regeneration and would suggest to him that he does something that it would appear that his predecessor didn't do and visit the nearby town of Accrington and see the chaos that closing short sections of their town centre streets caused.

Fortunately for the people of Accrington, they are starting to see the errors and making some attempt to correct them.

I would further suggest that he obtain a copy of the Government report of some 10 years ago that stated that building an inner ring road was a certain way to destroy town centre shopping areas.

It is difficult to see any advantage that has occurred with the closing of Church Street.

All that seems to have happened is that traffic now causes congestion on Railway Road, Jubilee Street and Darwen Street to the disadvantage of both buses and pedestrians.

Naively, I presume that the traffic that previously used Church Street still needs to enter the same area of the town.

L LAWES, Bold Street, Blackburn.