PLANS for a bus lane as part of Darlington's "pedestrian heart" scheme have been approved.

Objections from the Freight Transport Association were set aside by the council cabinet.

And the meeting was told the move would improve some of Darlington's traffic congestion problems.

But another facet is on hold because of police concerns.

Bus services in the town centre have been reviewed as part of the pedestrianisation project and changes to routes are proposed.

To help maintain effective bus services, various measures are being included and a bus lane was suggested for the Stonebridge/St Cuthbert's Way area.

This lane will run from east of the junction of Stonebridge and Crown Street, aiming to terminate at a "bus gate" in St Cuthbert's Way, around the site of the existing pelican crossing.

Development and environment director John Buxton said: "The dedicated lane will allow buses to travel along Stonebridge and then turn left on to St Cuthbert's Way without having to give way to other traffic at the roundabout."

A bus gate is a traffic signal layout which allows buses to have their own lane, traffic signal heads and traffic phase.

"This allows the chance for signals to take better account of the needs of buses within the overall traffic arrangements," said Mr Buxton.

When the scheme was made public, the FTA objected and said commercial/heavy goods vehicles should not be excluded from the equation.

The cabinet meeting heard that this was a general response from the FTA.

"In this case, the use of the bus lane by other vehicles would affect operation of the bus gate," said Mr Buxton.

"This would reduce effective operation of bus services using this stretch of road and would be contrary to the objectives of the bus lane."

Police have, however, raised questions about the bus gate.

The Durham force has lodged an objection to this idea on the grounds of adverse impact on emergency vehicle response times and on the issue of road safety.

Further consideration is now to be given to the bus gate with a view to drawing up a mutually acceptable layout the police can support.

Highways and transport cabinet member Coun Nick Wallis said: "The pedestrian heart scheme is also about the effect on traffic around the town centre and this action will improve some of the congestion problems by increasing capacity and better bus movements."