BLACKPOOL could soon be on the map -- the National Cycle Network map, that is.

Council chiefs, in conjunction with sustainable transport charity Sustrans, have proposed a cycle route along the Promenade which will link Blackpool with the rest of Britain.

The council have been displaying the proposals at its Corporation Street buildings. But the exhibition has not gone down well with everybody.

Pensioner Charles Thomas, of Elm Avenue, Blackpool, contacted The Citizen claiming the council barred him from seeing the proposals at the Town Hall before telling him to get on his bike.

An indignant Mr Thomas said: "I was interested in commenting on it. I am 79 now, I have been cycling since I was seven."

He went to see the display "armed with camera and tape recorder" but said he was stopped from recording comments with his tape recorder by one council worker who then "refused to repeat the statement" into the recorder.

He claimed another man tried to "physically prevent" him from taking a photo. "He then informed me that I was banned from entering the Town Hall precincts as a result of my activities," he claimed.

A spokeswoman for Blackpool Borough Council confirmed an incident had taken place but denied Mr Thomas's accusations.

She said: "A man was asked to leave for taking photographs without authorisation and behaving in a manner we felt was unacceptable. He left of his own accord and has not been barred from the Town Hall precincts."

On the cycle route itself, a council spokesman said that although Blackpool already has its own network of cycle paths and lanes, the seafront path would be the first step towards linking the whole town to the 10,000 mile cycle network project.

The route is likely to run from North Pier to Red Bank Road, Bispham, and from Little Bispham to Anchorsholme along existing public walkways and would be signed and marked as a separate cycle way.

A new hard-surfaced cycle way along the cliff top is planned to link Red Bank Road and Little Bispham.

Councillor Fred Jackson, cabinet member for urban environment, said: "This will bring the benefits of a safe and separate cycle way to local residents, many of whom currently use this route on an informal basis for both leisure and work journeys. It will also add to the attractiveness of Blackpool as a tourist destination."

He said the route would connect with cycle paths provided by Wyre Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, linking Blackpool with Fleetwood, Over Wyre and eventually Lancaster.

There is still time for members of the public to view plans of the route and offer their comments at an exhibition at Sainsbury's, Red Bank Road, Bispham. But hurry, the exhibition closes tomorrow (November 23).