A TOWN centre road is back open to motorists after being closed for two months.

After a partial collapse of the former registry office in May High Street at the rear was closed amid concerns for the safety of pedestrians and motorists.

The owner of the building in Abbey Road was given special permission to demolish the ‘minimum amount’ of the former registry office building in the interests of public safety after engineers deemed it was at risk of collapse.

Jack Cooksey, who bought the building in January with the intention of converting it, will still need to obtain planning permission to complete the demolition and to redevelop the site.

Since the demolition was complete officers from Barrow Borough Council visited the site and agreed it was safe to reopen the road.

The building control department then requested Cumbria County Council’s highways department reopen High Street and the closure was lifted on Thursday.

Mr Cooksey had warned he feared for the safety of pedestrians after the partial collapse of the building and called on the council to allow demolition to begin.

“There’s a very high risk of it collapsing; it could happen at any time,” he said last month.

“I’m really concerned about the risk to the public; I’m terrified someone is going to get killed and this work needs to be done now.”

Mr Cooksey said he has not yet decided what to do with the plot following the demolition of the building.

He has vowed to ‘invest in the development’ with input from the Barrow community but says his priority was ensuring the safety of the public and demolishing the building as soon as possible.