FURTHER to earlier letters about the proposed traffic changes to Blackburn town centre, I for one would love to see Church Street pedestrianised so that the area can be developed and those ugly railings that scar it removed.

The unused buildings on the street would be given a new lease of life and I believe the new scheme will encourage shoppers to explore Darwen Street.

Perhaps, more importantly, it will help to make a cleaner, safer environment for the local people and the extra visitors the regeneration will inevitably bring in.

Those opposed to the scheme, such as Blackburn Chamber of Trade, cite increasingly weary arguments and claim that blocking off Church Street will actually discourage people from visiting the town. What poppycock.

What they really mean is they are scared of change and their churlish behaviour is merely a sympton of the appalling lack of vision among traders in this town.

Have these people not visited towns such as Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, where pedestrianised areas work very well indeed? Even smaller towns have flourishing pedestrianised shopping areas and the popularity of out-of-town malls (where there are no cars) is evident for all to see.

Blackburn needs a new roads policy and the Church Street development is a bold and ambitious step for which the council should be congratulated.

However, there is still much work to do and I think they should be more rigorous in enforcing existing traffic restrictions.

JIM RAFFERTY, Wensley Road, Blackburn.