BOLLARDS at the entrance to one of Kendal's busiest shopping areas are hampering deliveries to shops and could lead to suppliers refusing to visit several businesses altogether.

Meat suppliers who deliver to Watson and Woollard and Marsden Bros butchers in Kendal's Market Place are unhappy with the pedestrianisation scheme, which denies them access to the Market Place from 10am to 4pm.

Martin McIntyre of McIntyre Meats makes deliveries in the Market Place twice a week and, due to the bollards being up at the entrance to the square, he has had to park his wagon away from the shop and carry the equivalent of three tonnes of meat the extra distance.

Mr McIntyre says that if he is delayed by traffic the extra time it takes to make his delivery from beyond the bollards can affect the rest of his deliveries.

"I try to get in before 8am to avoid the traffic but I come from Hawes and am on a pretty tight schedule. I understand it's a pedestrian area but there has to be some sort of leeway," he said.

Also affected is Robert Winder of John Seddon & Co in Blackburn, who make deliveries to the same butchers.

Mr Winder is concerned about the health and safety aspect of carrying heavy loads of meat through the busy Market Place: "Ideally we should be parked within three or four metres of the door," he said.

"Due to time pressures the earliest I can get the wagons in between 10.30am and 11am. The butchers in Market Place are good regular customers and we have been delivering to them for years but it's getting so that we might have to stop deliveries in Kendal."

In the same situation are V.A.W. Sausage Casings and Tripe Supplies of Cleveleys who deliver all over Cumbria and North Yorkshire and say it is "impossible" for them to make deliveries in Kendal before 10am.

"If we are not allowed to deliver to the Market Place I can't see us delivering to these calls anymore. It is unfortunate, after all they need us to stay in business. Too many butchers have gone by the wayside in Kendal over the years."

The butchers say they would like to see a return of the system whereby certain suppliers were given a key to the bollards.

Kendal Town Centre Manager Steve Finch sympathises with the butchers but said that the only reason suppliers had been allowed unrestricted access to the square was because the bollards had been broken.

Mr Finch said it was important to strike a balance between allowing tradesmen to go about their business freely and making Market Place a "pleasant, vibrant and attractive place to shop"

HE also said that in the past, when keys to the bollards were given to some suppliers, the system was abused.

"The trouble was that three keys were issued and these were then copied and we had a lot of complaints from people saying that vehicles were moving around Market Place and Finkle Street," he said.

If a business feels they have an overwhelming need for access to the Market Place they should speak to the enforcement officer at South Lakeland District Council but Mr Finch warned that the criteria was much more "stringent" than it used to be.