Traders have welcomed plans to smarten up a street in Brighton's North Laine and reduce traffic.

Plans to revamp Gardner Street are designed to attract more visitors to the shopping area by cutting the numbers of cars and bringing it in line with adjacent streets.

North Laine Traders' Association chairman Peter Stocker said: "I think it is a great step forward. Gardner Street is like a broken piece of jigsaw and, with the Jubilee site coming up, we wanted to make sure we were on a level playing field."

Curve Bar owner Simon Leigh-Jones said: "It will bring continuity between all the streets in the North Laine, which can only be good. It will mean it is no longer just a through-flow for traffic."

Others are concerned about disturbing the ancient slabs that line the road.

Jim Keeble, of Two Way Books, is worried it could damage the cellars below. The original coal holes can be seen at intervals along the pavement and beneath that there is only a 6in brick barrier between the road and the cellar.

Mr Keeble said: "We are worried when lorries are trying to park in a small space and have to mount the pavement because we've got a cellar full of books below.

"When they tried to install satellite cables under the road about ten years ago a man from the council came to have a look in our cellar and immediately put a stop to the plans."

The plans, which are on display at the town hall, include more pavement space with new red brick paving, a narrower passage for cars and disabled parking.

The scheme would be financed from Government money through the local transport plan bid.

The results of the consultation will be presented to the environment committee in January 2004 and, if successful, work would start next year.

Tuesday November 25, 2003