This is Leicestershire --A move to attract more shoppers and tourists to Leicester is set to involve more road closures.
As part of city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby's Connecting Leicester project, parts of St Martin's and Hotel Street, and the entire length of Grey Friars, are to become car-free zones.
The aim is to make the area more attractive to visitors to the new Richard III museum planned for the area.
After the discovery of the 15th century king's bones in Grey Friars, Leicester's chamber of commerce chief Martin Traynor estimated the city's visitor numbers would grow by at least 10 per cent.
Sir Peter also wants to make more of the city's ancient landmarks such as the Magazine, Castle Gardens, Wygston's House and the Guildhall.
He said: "Reconnecting the city's historic Old Town with the modern retail heart of our city centre is one of the key aims of what we are trying to achieve with the Connecting Leicester project.
"We want to create a more attractive and pedestrian-friendly environment for people to visit and explore."
As well as banning cars from Grey Friars and parts of St Martin's and Hotel Street, the city council plans to improve the streets with new surfacing, similar to Silver Street.
As with Silver Street, the new pedestrianised zones will be open to delivery traffic and automatic bollards will prevent other traffic getting through. There is also going to be a change at the market, where vehicles will be banned during peak shopping hours and the flow of traffic reversed.
Before the changes can be made, Leicester City Council needs to consult the public. The changes being consulted on are:
Grey Friars and parts of St Martin's and Hotel Street to have access to non-permit-holders limited by bollards. Vehicles without permits to be allowed in only between 5am and 11am Sunday to Friday and 5am to 9am on Saturdays.
All vehicles to be banned at all times from a stretch of St Martin's from its junction with New Street to a point for 37 metres to the east.
A new two-metre width limit for vehicles in New Street.
The direction of traffic around the market to be reversed.
Market traffic to be controlled by bollards and limited to 5am to 11am and 4pm to 7pm every day.
On-street parking to be removed from Peacock Lane and New Street, except for one loading bay and one disabled parking bay.
On-street parking along Friar Lane to be converted to disabled parking only. Businesses in the area said they did not expect any big changes, other than more pressure on parking.
Sarah Gillitt, who works at the Old Market Tavern in Hotel Street, said: "There are strict parking restrictions anyway so until later in the day it won't make much difference but it could cause difficulties for deliveries and taxis picking people up."
People can comment on the new orders in writing to the city council at Legal Services, Leicester City Council, Welford Place, Leicester LE1 6ZG, by Monday, July 1. Reported by This is 12 hours ago.