TRADERS have welcomed re-vamped plans for a giant Safeway store in St Annes town centre.

Last week the Citizen was the first to reveal the supermarket chain's revised plans, with reduced impact on Ashton Gardens, retaining the bowling greens and taking over instead the indoor market.

But while Save Ashton Gardens campaigners vowed to continue their fight, both the Chamber of Trade and the Town Centre Forum agreed the plans were the best way forward for the beleaguered town centre.

Anne Grayson, chairman of St Annes Chamber of Trade, said: "We haven't actually had a meeting yet but every member that attended the presentation were impressed and they were a good cross-section of the group.

"I imagine the overall impression will be that we are very pleased.

"Obviously we are saddened at the loss of any part of the gardens, but Safeway has obviously met the opposition half way.

"We're waiting for it to happen because something needs to be done in the town and it's getting desperate."

Alasdhair MacPhie, chairman of the Town Centre Forum, agreed with Anne's sentiments and said: "The Forum as a whole is most impressed with the new plans which we are sure will benefit the town as a whole.

"It looks the right thing to do."

But the Save Ashton Gardens group, which collected a petition of thousands, staging demonstrations and a march, still opposes the supermarket giant taking any part of the gardens.

Barbara Pagett, co-ordinater of SAG, said: "We are not impressed and we will carry on with the fight.

"I have made it plain to the developers that we are simply not impressed."

The new proposals would take up 1.97 acres of the gardens, mainly for a car park, shifting across St Georges Road to take over the indoor market site - whose traders have already welcomed the scheme.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.