THE results of Lancaster's biggest ever "people's poll" on transport issues in the city went all the way to a photo finish on Saturday.

Of all the votes cast, exactly a quarter were in favour of a bypass and a quarter were in favour of measures to make our streets safer.

But the costs of both winning options were very different - a bypass will set us back £90 million whereas the safer street package would cost only about £5 million.

An amazing 755 people took part in the poll and overall two thirds of votes were in favour of "green" options while one third voted for road-based solutions to the city's traffic chaos.

"The high number of people voting made the poll a great success and everyone seemed to enjoy having their say," said Roger Frankland of the civic society.

"It was the largest and most open poll on transport issues to have taken place in the local area."

Liz Hayes of Transport 2000 commented: "The council's consultation on the Heysham-M6 link gave people a choice of three bypasses and no other options. This poll gave realistic choices between a range of transport options. The results show there is substantial public support to improve public transport."

Each person who took part in the poll was given three votes to choose their favourite options with the bypass and safer streets coming joint top, better buses and improved trains were joint second and city centre roads came a poor last place with just eight per cent of the vote.

One local commuter Barry Thornton said of the poll results: "They show that people want to go green and improve the environment but are still very attached to their cars. One thing is for certain, nobody wants any new road developments in the city centre."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.