HEREFORDSHIRE Council has put any further funding bids for a Hereford bypass on hold and, instead, is looking for about £50 million to build a new road and river crossing that takes traffic around the city rather than away from it.

The new road - part of which would link the A465 to the A49 - was pitched as "the next best thing" to a bypass at a special seminar outlining long-term priorities in the council's provisional local transport plan.

Members heard statistics showing more traffic moving around the city centre than passing through since the bypass was envisaged in the '80s.

In February, the Highways Agency all-but ruled out a bypass for Hereford, telling the council's environment scrutiny committee there were no plans for such a road over the "foreseeable future".

Nor, it said, would the Agency promote a Hereford bypass as a project.

Council leader Councillor Roger Phillips told the Hereford Times the council had not abandoned the concept: "But we've got to go with what we can get (while) continuing to invest in roads around Hereford," he said.

The idea of an "outer distributor road" as an alternative emerged out of Hereford Transport Review in 2003. Cabinet gave a go-ahead for full exploration of the option in July that year.

Speaking after the seminar, Councillor Mike Wilson, cabinet member for highways and transportation, said the statistics offered very little to back a bypass, despite strong public support.

"Only around 7% of traffic wants to bypass the city, the vast majority is coming in. We need a road to distribute (that majority) around," he said.

There is yet to be a decision on whether the projected road would run east or west of the city, risking a revival of the row that dogged the original bypass bid.

And the council accepts there'll probably be a public inquiry into the impact of the road.

The cost of the distributor road is estimated at about £50 million with most found through regional funding.

If bids were successful, work on the first stage would begin sometime after 2010.

The seminar heard that other major road building on the council's "wish list" included an east-west link across Leominster, an extension of Ledbury bypass, and a bypass for either Pembridge or Eardisley.

Also included in the provisional plan is 'park and ride' for Hereford, new railway stations at Rotherwas and Withington, measures to cut down on car use countywide, and "talking" bus stops that text timetable information.

A Rotherwas access road is still seen as a must and speed limits in residential areas could come down to 20mph.

The final version of the plan will go to the government next year as a long-term guide to the council's transport policies and investment priorities.