YOUR report headlined 'CHAOS!' (LET, January 12), reveals only the tip of the iceberg.

Are we to act surprised as Blackburn grinds to a halt under the direction of the town's traffic engineers? Or are we to accept the glib reassurances that the new junctions are "not a problem."

Indeed, will the entire shopping public of East Lancashire follow the AA's official advice to avoid the area as "things get clogged up"?

The good traders of Blackburn knew two years ago that this would happen and have been gratuitously ignored by these so-called experts at the town hall.

On January 20, 2000, the technical services department at the town hall presented a report to councillors who took a decision to support the closure of Church Street.

They were told that 70 per cent of traffic using Church Street was through traffic and had no intention of stopping in the town to do any business. The figures were based on an Origin Destination Survey carried out by outside consultants in the autumn of 1999. Then it was found that the report was not reliable and should be repeated.

When the survey was repeated by new consultants, it became clear that the first report appeared to overstate the volume of through traffic by up to 16 times.

The survey does however seem to confirm that well over 85 per cent of vehicles using Church Street have some business within the town centre.

Regeneration chief, Councillor Ashley Whalley, has dismissed the 373 written objections to the traffic order that seeks to close Church Street. He has also treated the near-3,000-signature shopper petition with the same contempt.

It is now very clear that the council's plans for the closure of Church Street are critically flawed and that the chaos we now see is only a foretaste of things to come.

JEFFREY STONE, Jeff Stone Hairdressing, Fleming Square, Blackburn.