Leading figures in the Penrith community have said the town's businesses should have been consulted on the controversial road closures before they were put in place.

Road closures were put in place in Penrith town centre on Saturday June 20, but had been altered by the following Friday following widespread condemnation, including an organised protest, among Penrith's business community.

The closures had been put in place by Cumbria County Council to help facilitate social distancing among pedestrians passing through the town centre.

While the encouragement of social distancing was supported by all, hundreds involved in Penrith's business community criticised the closures as posing a serious risk to their livelihoods, and called for alternative solutions that allowed cars to still reach the town centre.

Helen Fearon, Cumbria county councillor for Penrith West, said she was disappointed that a full consultation on the closures hadn't taken place before they were implemented.

"It could have been handled considerably better by the county council recognising that it's not just about consultation being legally necessary, it's about it being the right thing to do," she said.

"To facilitate something like this, you need to take people with you and talk to them .

"If the county council had talked to the traders they would never have made some of the mistakes that they did with it.

"Traders would have told them in the first couple of seconds where the problems would have been. You need to gather local information and take people with you by talking to the experts.

"The experts on how things work in Penrith town centre are the traders."

She added that the the council was not legally obligated to carry out a consultation, but said it would have been an important step to take.

"The temporary traffic order they used to put this in does not require legal consultation," she said.

"But for something as draconian and far-reaching for the town as this - this was huge for Penrith - the thing about consultation they misses was that sometimes isn't just legally necessary, it's absolutely desirable.

"This scheme has caused terrible anxiety for businesses and residents alike. There was no need for such draconian measures and the County Council should have listened to local people.

"Thanks to the hard work and determination of local traders, together we have been able to put considerable pressure on the County Council and the politicians that were trying to ram this scheme through.

"As the county councillor for Penrith town centre I will not see our town brought to it’s knees with ill-thought out schemes."

Dan Harding, owner of several businesses in Penrith town centre and one of Penrith Business Improvement District's (BID) directors said that the county council "had everyone's safety in mind.

"But they were overzealous," he said. "It could have been avoided with a consultation. If they held back a week to allow some discussions with BID, the chamber of trade, town council and Eden District Council, it would have avoided all of this.

"We would have turned around and said there are better solutions around this.

"It could have been avoided, and the county council have made big mistakes in the way they've rolled this out.

"But at least they're now working with us, and making good steps forward."

As the announcement was made last week that changes were to be made to the traffic calming measures, Cumbria County Councillor David Whipp, Chair of Eden Local Committee, said: “I’d like to sincerely thank our residents and visitors for their patience and comments over the last week.

"These updated measures should help ensure our visitors are able to shop in our town safely and enable businesses to open and thrive.

"I’d ask that everyone respects the temporary restrictions which have been put in place. These will continue to be reviewed in line with government guidance and feedback.”