AT last, a common sense viewpoint -- from Pauline Vaughan (Letters, July 24) -- on the local authority's proposals to close Church Street in Blackburn to through Traffic and create additional limited-time car parking in Church Street and Darwen Street.

For too long the Church Street barrier has caused decline and trade failures in the Cathedral precinct and Darwen Street areas. Traffic surveys have proved that much of the traffic on Higher Church Street is merely passing through the centre of town.

Until the recent reduction to one east-bound lane on Church Street, I have often witnessed empty HGV lorries racing from the Darwen Street lights by the Old Bank down towards Salford, causing pedestrians to flinch in their boots on the pavement.

Change often engenders fear, but the traders of Church Street, Fleming Square and Darwen Street should set aside their prejudices and grasp the opportunity of regeneration which has been the subject of much consultation over the last five years, involving the local authority, the Cathedral Chapter, the Darwen Street traders, Blackburn Civic Society and many other bodies and individuals.

We must ensure that the authority does not repeat the debacle of the Ainsworth Street bus lane fiasco by bowing to minority self-interest groups.

RICHARD PREST, Strawberry Bank, Blackburn.