RAWTENSTALL Chamber of Commerce has praised a meeting about the future of the town’s bus station as ‘a big step in the right direction’.

Plans detailing a proposed move of the depot from Bacup Road to North Street were made available to the public for the first time on Monday.

The business group said it welcomed assurances from Lancashire County Council leader Geoff Driver that the proposed layout was not yet set in stone.

David Gould, president of the Chamber, said: “The overwhelming feeling was in favour of the new bus station development but that the two councils needed to work together on making this happen.

“If the excessive amount of political bickering was ignored then we felt the meeting was quite productive.

“There is still an awful lot of work to be done, but if the county and borough get together and work closely on this, we believe that the right scheme for Rawtenstall can be delivered.”

Mr Gould said he was also pleased that Coun Andrew MacNae, Rossendale’s portfolio holder for regeneration, tourism and leisure, had agreed to look at the issue before the next full council meeting on February 27.