AMBITIOUS plans to create an amphitheatre in Nelson town centre have been revealed.

Planners showcased designs of how the town centre will look once a £2.1million scheme to re-open Manchester Road to slow-moving traffic has been completed.

The amphitheatre will be built close to the junction of Manchester Road and Market Street, with the road curving around it before it straightens up on the stretch down to Leeds Road.

It has been designed with steps to create a high planter which sweeps down to ground level and is described as a semi-enclosed comfortable space for people to sit in, as well as a visually open space to prevent anti-social behaviour.

Under the scheme, stone cubes, similar to those in Manchester city centre, will be installed, with the dual purpose of providing seating and preventing vehicles from travelling in Market Street and Scotland Road.

New trees will also be planted in the area, some of which will be cubed or mop-headed.

Town centre planners said the aim was to create a space in which people would like to spend time.

They asked councillors to endorse the designs.

Coun Mohammed Iqbal said: “It’s quite hard to visualise what it will look like, but the photographs have helped.

"It seems quite an innovative scheme for a town centre like Nelson and I think it will fit in well.”

Coun Nadeem Ahmed said: “It’s an exciting, major programme for Nelson town cente and an opportunity and we have to get right.”

Members agreed to set up a working group with delegated powers to approve the central focal point design.