The design for a £1 million makeover for a city centre street goes out to public consultation today.

Business owners, councillors and residents will get to have their say on the proposed transformation of New Road in the North Laine, Brighton.

This picture shows some of the features that the internationally-renowned Gehl Architects have suggested to make the street a safer, more attractive, more tourist-friendly destination.

They envisage a European road which give pedestrians priority over cars, seating walls and benches.

They also want to create a different style of street lighting in the changed New Road.

Members of the public can attend a session today where they can look more closely at the pictures and also see drawings with the specific plans.

They will be able to see and feel samples of different stone that could be used for the paving and fill in a questionnaire with their views.

Members of Brighton and Hove City Councils environment department, which is overseeing the scheme, will be there to answer questions from the public.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chairwoman of Brighton and Hoves environment committee, said: We want New Road to set the standard for future environmental enhancement schemes across the city.

If you would like the opportunity to contribute to the design process, please come along.

New Road links North Laine with The Lanes and attractions such as the Dome, the Royal Pavilion and gardens, the Theatre Royal and the Jubilee Library.

But at the moment it is unfriendly and inhospitable to pedestrians and cyclists, attracts fast-moving cars and is cluttered with signs and other street furniture.

It also attracts antisocial behaviour in the evenings, particularly in the darkness of the Pavilion Gardens.

Extensive consultation already carried out in workshops with traders and community and residents groups identified this final design as the best option for change.

The street will be levelled out, with no pavements or road markings designating where cars, bicycles or pedestrians should be, meaning vehicles will be forced to travel slowly and give way to people on foot.

All unnecessary signs and street furniture will be removed.

Mid-height shrubbery around the Pavilion Gardens will be trimmed back to make the space visible from the street, though trees and flower beds will still surround the park to maintain its tranquility.

A wall along the edge of the garden will be turned into stone benching to encourage people to sit and relax and two trees will be planted at either end of the road.

New lighting will help discourage crime and antisocial behaviour and it is also hoped that this will lessen as more people sit and walk around the street into the evenings.

The consultation is in the Education Pavilion at Brighton Museum, today between 11am and 3pm.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005