A congested road through Tetbury could soon be much quieter if plans to divert traffic go ahead.

As part of the neighbourhood development plan being put together by a collection of groups from the town and surrounding area, Tetbury Civic Society has suggested declassifying Long Street as the main road through the popular tourist destination.

Instead, traffic travelling to and from junction 18 of the M4 for Bristol and South Wales would use New Church Street to access the A46 at the Calcott crossroads.

Civic Society chairman Robin Levin said the organisation felt Long Street – which is often heavily congested during rush hours – should not be the default route through the town.

“It is a complicated matter,” he said. “There’s winners and losers and there’s a lot of public consultation that needs to be done.

“There will be some people in the town who will be against it and there may well be other alternatives.”

Tetbury Chamber of Commerce chairman Peter Hodgson said the group was working with the civic society to put together the plans and every business in the town was to be given a chance to have their say.

“It’s an excellent idea when you look at it on the surface but whether it’s practical is the question,” he said.

Tetbury town councillor Stephen Hirst said he was not convinced there would be any advantages to declassifying the road.

“How are drivers going to get to Malmesbury or Avening? They would have to take a very long way around,” he said.

“I also don’t think the residents of New Church Street would be very happy to see increased traffic flow past their homes.”

He added that changing the classification of Long Street might also reduce the amount of funding available to Gloucestershire County Council’s highways department for road improvements.

“Just because you declassify a road doesn’t mean people won’t use it,” he said. “People going to Malmesbury are still going to use Long Street.”