Traders and a community group have suggested that removing all the traffic lights, road markings and designated pedestrian crossings could turn the shopping area into a safer place.

Traffic through Church Street and Prospect Street would slow down and queues on both sides of the river would be reduced, it is claimed.

The idea was introduced by the Caversham Traders Association and the Caversham and District Residents Association (CADRA) at a public meeting at the Baptist Church in Prospect Street last Wednesday.

Helen Lambert, chairman of CADRA, asked people to “suspend disbelief” until they had heard all traffic management expert and local resident Paul Matthews’ ideas.

With the redevelopment of St Martins precinct in the pipeline, Mrs Lambert said: “There has never been a better opportunity to do this. What Paul has set out is a new way of thinking about transport, with some surprising, and what appear to be counter-intuitive, plans.” Mr Matthews told more than 100 people that with traffic controls like lights and pedestrian crossings, motorists “assume dominance” over pedestrians and cyclists.

He said: “Pioneered in the Netherlands, there are new psychological schemes where you soften the street scene, soften the boundaries between the pedestrian areas and the traffic lanes, and narrow the traffic lanes.

“This puts the responsibility fully on the driver, who has to make their own decisions rather than relying on a mechanised system.

“The results are that traffic speed goes down and people become more courteous, allowing people to cross the road at points other than designated crossings.” A pioneering £4m scheme where a busy A-road intersection has been turned into a psychological traffic calming system has been hailed a success in Poynton, West Yorkshire.

Mrs Lambert said the community had four options for the future of Caversham to take to Reading Borough Council. The first was to keep the status quo, the second to improve the appearance of the village’s centre by reducing street signage, thirdly introduce a transitional level that would create safe raised pedestrian crossings and footways, or Mr Matthews’ radical plans.

The two organisations are appealing for opinions on new traffic measures by email to info@cadra.org.uk and cavershamtraders@googlemail.com. Or a hand-written opinion can be taken into Waltons Jewellers.