HIGHWAY bosses have ruled out plans for a congestion-easing bypass around the town because they feel Yeovil's traffic problems are not bad enough.

Somerset County Council's transport studies manager, Jeremy Callard, revealed last week the findings of the £200,000 investigation into how to solve Yeovil's mounting motoring frustration.

But he told members of Yeovil Chamber of Trade on Thursday who were attending a breakfast meeting at the Westland Leisure Complex that a bypass would not help the situation.

"A big bypass is not required because there isn't a lot of through traffic in Yeovil," he said. "The majority of traffic is moving within the town."

And the council's portfolio holder for transport, Cllr Tim Carroll, added: "Building ring-roads around Yeovil won't help at all and that is what we have got to accept."

The news will fly in the face of what many readers have said in response to the Express' Keep it Moving campaign in which they were asked for their views and ideas about Yeovil's traffic headaches. The vast majority of those who wrote to the Express clearly identified the need for a bypass.

Mr Callard said that possible major schemes such as dualling the Western Relief Road, linking the A3088 Cartgate with Lufton and Thorne Lane; and a similar project to join the A37 Dorchester Road with the A3088 at Bunford Hollow via Keyford had been looked at.

But he added: "There would be little traffic or economic benefits that could justify construction of these schemes."

The Yeovil Transport Strategy Review found that there were a high number of short distance trips within the town between home and school or work.

Mr Callard said that 65 per cent of people used a car or van to get to work, while 16 per cent walked, six per cent went by bicycle and just three per cent travelled by bus.

Although highway bosses have scotched the idea of a bypass around the town, they have come up with a number of possible measures to help minimise the traffic problems including traffic-lighting the major roundabouts in the town.

But the statistics have shown that traffic will get worse in the years to come.

The review has used the date of 2011 as a 'strategy forecast year' and calculations show that the number of car journeys made in morning peak hour will have risen by 19 per cent and the afternoon rush period between 5pm and 6pm will have increased by 21 per cent.

The plans have been given a somewhat cautious welcome and president of the Yeovil Chamber of Trade, David Mills, said there was 'no perfect solution' to solving the traffic problems.