Move to ban cars from town centre

Among the ideas from planning consultants Symonds to transform the gridlocked centre of Colne is a ban on vehicles during most of the day and making one-way Craddock Road into a two-way "by-pass".

The blueprint for the future of the busy shopping centre will go before Pendle Council's policy committee on Thursday with a recommendation that the proposals go out to public consultation so that traders and shoppers can have their say.

Options are:

Improve the existing situation by a range of measures to slow traffic and improve the look of the central area by widening footpaths, creating speed ramps and platforms, creating parking bays and adding extra pedestrian crossings.

Partial pedestrianisation of Market Street between Windy Bank and Dockray Street from 10.30am to 4.30pm with Craddock Road made two-way.

An alternative pedestrianisation of Market Street between Market Place and Dockray Street.

A ban on HGVs driving through the centre with cars and smaller lorries still able to use Market Street. Extra road humps, platforms and footpath widening would be used to slow traffic.

The Symonds report says: "Several sections of the shopping street, Church Street and Market Street, have already been improved with hard and soft landscaping but still accommodate significant levels of traffic. If this could be reduced it would create a more attractive shopping environment."

A traffic count survey found that at times almost as much traffic travelled through the town centre as along the "by-pass" route of North Valley Road and Vivary Way. At peak times almost 1,300 vehicles an hour use Albert Road.

The report pointed out that a balance had to be found between making the centre more pedestrian friendly to encourage shoppers while at the same time making the shops easily accessible.

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