ONCE again, in uplifting contrast to the acquiescence of his fellow back-bench councillors ex-mayor Peter Greenwood breaks ranks and blasts away at the party line - this time, over the controversial plans to steer traffic away from Blackburn town centre.

He is not against this aim. But he is evidently worried about the way the Labour-dominated council intends to go about it.

And - with another bonus for greater democracy in Blackburn - he is calling for people in the town to bombard with postcards giving their opinion on the big shake-up. But the revealing aspect of Councillor Greenwood's move is not the fact that he does not like and fears the consequences of the cobbled-together orbital route that the council has come up with to divert 'through' traffic around the centre.

It is that he does not have a real alternative himself. And that perhaps points to the difficulty the council has in dealing with the traffic problem - for starved of government funding for completing the inner relief road that has been on the drawing board for a generation, it is having to resort to makeshift measures.

But Councillor Greenwood is certainly right to ask whether they are sound - not least when much of the traffic removed from the town centre will be switched to his ward, posing major safety and pollution problems for residents.

A full debate and a search for alternatives that may be better is needed. This is because of the enormity of this move and the impact it will have on road users, town centre traders, residents and shoppers.

Full and proper consultation - something that the council leaders commanding a slavish steamroller majority tend only to pay lip-service to - is what is needed on this vital plan. And the refreshingly rebellious Councillor Greenwood does right to seek it.

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