Radical plans to ban private motorists from The Borough and adjoining streets could be in place as early as January next year.

County council highway bosses have made the blueprint public and will now officially advertise what is known as Traffic Regulation Orders (TPOs).This will give members of the public a chance to have their say before a final decision is made.

Under the proposals, only taxis, emergency vehicles, buses, cyclists and delivery vehicles will be allowed in The Borough (High Street), Silver Street, Middle Street and Wine Street.

Delivery by HGV will be banned between 11am and 4pm, although non-HGV deliveries will be possible at two designated spots within the area.

Hendford will also be affected as HGVs will find it a "no go area" between 11am and 4pm. This is because any HGV entering Hendford would end up within the restricted area.

Yeovil Town Council was visited by two county council officers this week for a detailed presentation of proposals.

Town councillors raised two matters of concern but were supportive in general. It has been proposed to accommodate taxi ranks in Middle Street and Silver Street but town councillors said it would be more practical, for a number of reasons, to have the taxis operating from a single rank in Silver Street.

The other matter of contention was the lack of a pedestrian crossing at the top of Silver Street. Councillor Maggie Foot had raised the issue at a previous presentation in January, and was disappointed plans did not include such a crossing.

She feels that a lack of visibility makes it a dangerous place for pedestrians. The county officer explained that ducting would be put in place for the provision of a zebra crossing should one be needed in future.

Councillor Foot was not satisfied and said: ìYou canít take a chance with pedestrian safetyî, and demanded her opinion be minuted.

A little later, councillor Audrey Bartlett touched on the subject by saying people would have to cross a busy road.

This sparked an angry reaction from councillor Tony Fife, who demanded to know how the road was going to be busy when the purpose of the whole exercise was to cut out traffic from the area, accusing his fellow councillor of not following the debate.

Councillor Bartlett denied the accusation.

The debate was closed after councillors had voted to support the idea of a single taxi rank.

Work is expected to start in January next year.