THIS week Blackburn with Darwen Council announced they are to reconsider plans for two park and ride schemes to provide cheaper parking for and alleviate town centre traffic problems. ANDREW TAYLOR examines the possible implications of the proposals being considered. . .

GETTING to work on time through rush hour traffic is difficult enough for most people, but finding a low cost parking spot within short walking distance of the shops or office is becoming harder.

Free parking is at a premium as private car park owners in Blackburn get tough on motorists exceeding maximum stays. Clamping operations have begun on town centre shopping sites and the ever widening reach of pay and display parking, where motorists can pay up to £20 a week, is forcing drivers further out of the centre.

But this week Blackburn with Darwen Council announced they were reconsidering plans, first discussed in December 2002, to introduce park and ride in the borough to alleviate the problem. Plans were shelved at that time until the Blackburn orbital route was complete.

Two such schemes could see large car parks in Darwen and Whitebirk being created with buses at short intervals taking shoppers and workers into Blackburn town centre.

Although a huge feasibility study would have to take place Darwen traders are sceptical about such proposals.

John Brown, chairman of Darwen Town Centre Association, said: "We would resist it strongly. Darwen is a market town in its own right and the last thing we want to do is to be busing shoppers off to another town.

"We do not have pay and display in Darwen, because it is the biggest deterrent to shoppers there is. It does not seem right take shoppers from Darwen to Blackburn just because we don't have pay and display and they do. The area between Blackburn and Darwen is built up and served by buses anyway. We should be encouraging people to come and shop here."

Darwen market superintendent, Karen Turner, said: "It will only benefit Darwen if people could also get on a free bus that brings them into this town and as long as it does not remove trade from our area. Trade here has doubled on last year because of a lot of effort from a lot of people. We don't want to lose that."

Jenny Grogan, owner of Solitaire Fashions, Duckworth Street, said: "If they were to introduce park and ride here to serve Blackburn then Darwen traders should withhold their rates. Our rates are ridiculous and we get nothing for them. Free parking in Darwen brings people to the town. The last thing we want is a bus taking people into Blackburn."

President of Blackburn Chamber of Trade, Raymond Goldstone, believes the sites under consideration are too far away. He said: "I have put forward a few proposals about park and ride and we have suggested the Furthergate area would be a decent site because Whitebirk is a long bus ride away. It needs to be somewhere on the ring road with good access."

However, Andy Kay, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council executive member for regeneration, said park and ride would benefit the town. He stressed that proposals are in the early stages and public consultation could be a long way down the line and added: "The benefits of a park and ride system are that it provides more travel choice, reduces traffic in town centres during peak periods and reduces accidents. It is environmentally friendly, allows for priority bus routes and more choice for the 40 per cent of residents within the borough who do not have access to a car.

"It is too early for any specifics and any decision on who would run the scheme."