TOURISTS are in danger of getting lost in Clitheroe, according to a community street audit of the town centre.

The finger posts in the market which point visitors in the wrong direction were just one of the faults noted in the audit carried out by community action group, ClitheroeTheFuture Partnership, with the help of national charity, Living Streets.

The investigation, carried out last month, looked at how pedestrian-friendly the town's streets are.

Small groups of local people wandered around the town centre, accompanied by experts from Living Streets, in search of ways to improve things.

But they found that with some minor changes, Clitheroe could become even more attractive to pedestrians.

Paul Holdsworth from Living Streets said: "Clitheroe is already a great place to walk, but it could be even better. An incorrect signpost for tourists is something that might be overlooked by a local person but it can affect a visitor's walking pleasure, and that is not good for the local economy.

"If the town gets things right for pedestrians, more people will enjoy walking, and this in turn will ease parking pressure for those visitors who really have no choice but to drive."

Living Streets is an organisation that aims to improve roads for pedestrians, and the group will be producing a detailed report on the street audit findings, with hundreds of suggestions to improve Clitheroe.

John Heap, Ribble Valley Council's director of commercial services, said: "We are delighted that this charity and community group have undertaken a street survey of Clitheroe. Their findings complement a borough-wide street survey conducted by Ribble Valley Council last year and will give us further pointers in our on-going programme of street improvement works.

"This has included cleaning the 22 bus shelters every three weeks and replacing many of the litter bins in Clitheroe town centre, as well as all of the litter bins on the A59, in the last twelve months.

"We look forward to receiving Living Streets' detailed report to see if it can add anything to our own findings.