A ONE-way system is among the changes that could be made to Darlington’s Duke Street following a series of meetings between traders and councillors.

The meetings were organised to build better relations between the business community on Duke Street and the council and a series of proposals to improve the road for visitors were mooted.

Among these were proposals covering parking concessions, ideas for changes to loading bays, on-street parking, direction of traffic movement and the addition of trees to the street landscape.

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman confirmed that a further round of meetings is planned with traders in the coming weeks to discuss the proposals further.

She added: “We can't be specific about details until then, however, we can confirm the intent is to replicate the Grange Road area."

Richard Hindle, owner of Galleria on Duke Street, was among those who made proposals to make changes to the street.

He said: "We want to increase town centre parking and also link Duke Street better to the town centre.

"Helping people to park more easily is key to the success of the town. A one-way system would make sense, 95 per cent of traffic already travels in the same direction and if we were to add parking it would make it safer too.

"Duke Street is a wonderful little success story and although I've been mentioning these ideas for years this time the council has been genuinely enthusiastic so I think it will happen."

Duke Street salon owner Tim Hinton-Clifton said he too would welcome the proposed changes, he was sceptical that the council would put any of the traders’ suggestions into action.

Mr Hinton-Clifton, who owns both Clinic 36 Ltd and Hairtopia and has been trading on Duke Street for 39 years, said: “All of us (on Duke Street) feel that no-one ever listens to us at all.

“It all stops at the cobbles (on Skinnergate). I didn’t want pedestrianisation in the town centre – we are no better off for that.

Mr Hinton-Clifton said he wanted the council to allow three hours’ parking for £1 to enable visitors to make more of the town centre.