Would opening Falkirk High Street to traffic increase trade?

Councillor Malcolm Nicol, leader of the Falkirk Conservative group, said he knew only too well the difficulties many shopkeepers face.

He added: “It’s time to get the feelings of particular shops and the wider public – would reopening parts of the High Street to traffic be the answer? The difficulty is, when you are away from the traffic you are not visible.”

Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said: “We are not adverse to looking at opening up the town centre to traffic.”

Earlier in the year, traders urged the council to consider allowing traffic along High Street – which has been pedestrianised since the late 1980s – as this would effectively give them a “shop window” to promote their goods and services to a much wider group of people.