AN ORGANISATION for blind people in Blackburn has today rallied to support councillors who are set to rubber stamp a controversial clampdown on pavements displays outside shops.

The A-boards saga has been at the centre of a storm of protest from angry traders for months. Shopkeepers say they are being prevented from advertising the services they offer outside their shops by the ban.

Members of the council's regeneration committee approved the clampdown in June, but referred the matter to tonight's meeting of the full council. Now, bosses at the Blackburn and Darwen Society for the Blind have spoken of their support for the clampdown.

Chairman Mike Mulcahy, said: "We have been kept fully informed of the developments and the actions of the council and fully support their efforts to remove all obstacles to a visually impaired person's right to move with safety around the town.

"We have been made aware of the assistance offered by council officers to alternative methods of advertising, which would not interfere with wheel chairs, prams or pedestrians."

Traders who do not comply with the tightened regulations are threatened with prosecution by the council.

However, all but one of the council's first five A-board prosecutions collapsed and one prosecution, against a motorbike dealership in Bolton road, failed when the prosecuting solicitor failed to arrive at court in time.

Tonights meeting takes place in the town hall starting at 7pm.

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