REIGATE'S busy shopping centre could soon become a car-free zone.
Surrey County Council will investigate pedestrianising the traffic-clogged High Street, and bid for government cash to turn the vision into a reality.
The scheme is on a "to do" list of major roads projects across the county, signed off by the authority's cabinet last week.
Lyndon Mendes, the council's transport policy team manager, told the Mirror: "We need to see what would work. At the moment, we are saying pedestrian priority because in the best scenario we would go for full pedestrianisation – but that may not be possible with the traffic movement. We have to assess how it would work, see what is feasible and come up with some options."
These could include banning vehicles completely, or retaining bus access only, he said.
A previous scheme to create a "relief road" carrying two-way traffic along an enlarged London Road and Castlefield Road to bypass the town centre section of the A25, was proposed in the 1990s but finally shelved in 2004.
Land earmarked to widen the roads at the time is still safeguarded under the borough's local plan.
"We want to use that safeguarded land," said Mr Mendes.
"We want to be able to use any of the opportunities in that area to take traffic out of the centre so we create a more pedestrian-friendly environment, improve the shopping and economic environment – which is already good."
While all agree the existing traffic is a problem, views are split on whether Reigate needs a pedestrian precinct.
Shirley Cox, chairman of the Reigate Business Guild, fears that, rather than boosting the town's vitality, removing traffic from Church Street and High Street could hit trade.
"I don't think it would work," she said. "I don't think it would be particularly good for shops because it would divert people away.
"People are going to drive around Reigate. They are not going to see the beauty of the town, see the shops and think, 'that's nice, I'll go back there'.
"Parking is already a problem. If there is land spare, they could help us by utilising that land to increase the parking – that is what everybody moans about."
However, the Reigate Society have always championed a bypass scheme. Long-standing member John Chittendon, who formally chaired its transport committee, said: "The society has always been in favour of reducing through traffic but promoting local retail interest traffic.
"The noise, the air pollution, and just the sheer weight of traffic going through turns Reigate High Street into a sort of motorway. If the county council is looking at it again, that is excellent, but I feel we have to be very careful on the logistics."
If the project wins funding, construction could start in 2019.
The much-discussed plan to scrap Redhill's one-way system and introduce changes at some key junctions was also on the list of major schemes signed off by the council.
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