COUNCIL bosses have insisted it will be safe to allow cycling in the new-look pedestrian heart of Darlington town centre.

The £6.5m pedestrianisation scheme has been designed to encourage more traders and shoppers into the town.

Under the proposals, Prospect Place, the south end of Northgate, High Row, Skinnergate, West Row and Blackwellgate will be pedestrianised.

But plans to allow cycling in the centre have sparked controversy, with some people fearing it could lead to an increase in youths on bikes causing problems for shoppers.

Darlington Association on Disability has written to the council to express its concerns about the matter.

Chairman Gordon Pybus wrote: "We have been given Government statistics that it is safe and that it is only a minority of cyclists that are a problem.

"We disagree with the statistics and believe they are taken out of context of the other problems a pedestrian heart can bring for disabled people.

"Not only will it be dangerous within the so-called pedestrian heart but also, if it is acceptable to cycle amongst people in an area like that, then how can it ever be argued that it is not acceptable to cycle on the pavement anywhere?"

In a report to Darlington Transport Forum, the borough council's development director, John Buxton, stressed safety had been taken into account.

He said it was important to be clear that the proposals were not to allow cycling on pavements.

"Cyclists would be cycling within very wide areas, such as the width of West Row, but with only pedestrians and no other traffic," he said.

"Cyclists and pedestrians avoiding each other is quite straightforward in such a wide area and quite different from people cycling on pavements."

Mr Buxton quoted transport figures for the town centre from 2001 to last year, which showed there were no recorded accidents involving a pedestrian and a cyclist.

The council said it was aware of cyclists riding on pavements and would seek to discourage it through training in schools, publishing literature promoting a good cycling code and working with police.

Work on pedestrianising the town centre is due to start in February.