£2.3m Nelson town centre scheme unveiled (From Lancashire Telegraph)

£2.3m Nelson town centre scheme unveiled

6:20pm Sunday 21st March 2010 in

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A £2.3million scheme to revive the fortunes of Nelson and bring cars back to one of its main shopping streets has been unveiled.

Long-awaited proposals to regenerate the centre of town, first discussed in 2006, are now set to become a reality, council bosses have revealed.

Turning back the clock more than 20 years, traffic will be allowed along Manchester Road and Leeds Road in a bid to kickstart trade in the Pendle town.

For the scheme, £1.3million is being provided by the Northwest Development Agency, another £983,0000 from the European Regional Development Fund.

Progress must be made quickly on the engineering works as the NWDA wants the cash spent by March 2011, but talks are underway to grant an extension until June as contractors are not expected to begin work until later this summer.

Coun Allan Buck, cabinet member responsible for town centres, said the initiative would help to revamp the ‘dead area’ between Trafalgar Square and the New Scotland Road junction.

He said: “Putting the road back through Nelson town centre is what traders, residents and Pendle Council have been wanting for years.”

Under the plans, there will be a one-way road in operation, from the Manchester Road direction, which will take cars along a winding tree-lined route.

The fountain in Trafalgar Square is set to be moved to a more central location and the road will eventually emerge at a new traffic-controlled junction with New Scotland Road, Leeds Road and Holme Street.

Only cars will be allowed along the stretch and a 20mph speed limit will be in force. An extra five car parking spaces will be generated.

Plans to redesign the town centre’s parking layout will put 16 of these, 10 regular spaces and six for disabled drivers, beside Pendle Rise shopping centre in Leeds Road.

Similar materials will be used as employed in the resurfacing of nearby Market Street.

Coun Buck said the move would enable shoppers to park up, nip into shops and leave easily, boosting shops’ and the town’s market’s trade.

Coun George, Labour chairman of the Nelson area committee, said: “The recreation of the high street is a key project in the town centre masterplan.”

Coun Tony Beckett, Tory group leader, said: “It has been a long while in coming and we should just get on with this now.”