MEMBERS of the public have not been provided with enough information in the final round of consultation about the regeneration of Hexham Market Place, it has been claimed.

Town resident Wendy Breach addressed this week’s town council meeting to say many people voting for one of the two options suggested for the area were making a decision despite a lack of information available to the public.

A six-week consultation asking whether residents and businesses would prefer either a partly pedestrianised scheme or an ‘enhanced streets’ scheme is under way.

But Mrs Breach claimed that the details accompanying the proposals online were inadequate because the results from surveys conducted by Sustrans were not provided.

She said: “There’s been a lot of abusive comments on the consultation and I think these have been made in ignorance, because people don’t know the full details.

“People don’t seem to know the through traffic going through Market Place and Hallstile Bank was 2,000 vehicles in 12 hours on an average Saturday in May or June. Almost 3,000 pedestrians crossed the Market Place during the same period.”

Mrs Breach also questioned why an option for a complete pedestrianisation scheme wasn’t available as that was the most popular choice in the first round of consultation.

She said: “I am in support of transparency which is apparently happening, but in my opinion this consultation hasn’t been transparent.”

Coun. Cath Homer, Northumberland County Councillor for Hexham East, said she had raised the issue with the council and more information would be made available to the public.