Long-term plans to pedestrianise Queen Street in Oxford have suffered a setback.

City and county council leaders are committed to pedestrianising the street by the time the expanded Westgate shopping centre is open in 2011.

Capital Shopping Centres has devised a masterplan for the £220m redevelopment of the centre and an official planning application is expected next year.

David Robertson, the county council's executive member for transport, said the closure of Queen Street to traffic was the long-term aim of the vast majority of politicians in the city. But he added that a fire at the Co-op Bank earlier this month (Dec), which temporarily closed the street, clearly demonstrated that pedestrianisation would have to be carefully thought through.

He added: "The fire gave us the opportunity to try switching all the bus stops to St Aldate's and unfortunately it didn't work. St Aldate's has fairly narrow pavements and there simply wasn't room for all the passengers who usually wait for buses there, plus the extra ones.

"St Aldate's also has air quality issues that we have to address as part of our Local Transport Plan.

"We would not want to close Queen Street to traffic until we have a decent alternative, because St Aldate's is not big enough to cater for the demand.

"Next year, we will be working on a proposal called Access to Oxford, as an alternative to the Guided Transit Express, and we need to come up with some innovative ideas."

Nigel Eggleton, commercial director for the Oxford Bus Company, agreed with Mr Robertson and said there were "crowd control" issues when extra bus stops were switched to St Aldate's.

The fire closed Queen Street on December 11 and buses were also rerouted on December 16 for several hours while repairs were carried out.

Tony Brett, Liberal Democrat city councillor for Holywell ward, welcomed the closures and added that he found it easier than usual to get a No 5 bus to Cowley Road. He told the Oxford Mail in a letter that he hoped the "treat of a bus-free Queen Street was a glimpse of the future".

But Mr Eggleton responded in a letter to say that passengers had found the closure "quite chaotic" as 70 buses an hour were using St Aldate's.

He added: "We've already begun preliminary work with Oxfordshire County Council to see if Queen Street services could be rerouted. St Aldate's could cope at best with only half the number of buses that would need to use it.

"Only a radical idea can square the circle and give the city what it wants - environmentally-friendly transport and access to the city for all visitors and workers."