CITY centre traders have warned that they face the prospect of going bust if controversial proposals to change access and parking in Broad Street, Oxford, go ahead.

Shopkeepers say the proposed ban on loading and unloading vehicles on the stretch of road between Cornmarket Street, at the northern end of Broad Street, and Turl Street, mean it will be impossible for delivery lorries to reach their premises.

The ban would operate between 10am and 6pm. The owner of Wendy News, Wendy Green, said it would finish her business off. "This is my livelihood," she said. "If trade goes down this shop will be worth nothing. My business will fold.

"We are not asking for the proposals to be abandoned for our sake, but we would like some thought put into how shops like ours will survive".

Traders also fear they will be hit by the removal of parking in Broad Street, where shoppers for the Covered Market often leave their cars.

Adrian Lester, who owns Delcoys Leather Goods in the market, said the council was making a big mistake.

"I only have one business," he said. "If it all goes pear-shaped we are stuffed. The small traders are on the sacrificial altar."

He added: "It's already showing an effect on trade. We used to get the Saturday morning shoppers who came into Oxford in their car but that's noticeably not happening now."

But the principal engineer of the highways and traffic section of the city council, John Kramer, said that in the long term pedestrianisation will be good for business.

"In my experience any negative effects that businesses feel are more than compensated for by the benefits of people wanting to come to an area not buzzing with traffic," he said.

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