TRIALS could be launched into extending York’s pedestrian zone, city leaders have said.

City of York Council’s ruling executive yesterday discussed several possible moves to improve the existing “footstreets” scheme.

They included the possibility of extending the pedestrianised area to Fossgate, after requests from traders.

Bill Woolley, director of city strategy, said the current hours of operation could be extended to include peak times, encouraging people to walk to and from work.

Coun Steve Galloway, executive member for city strategy, said: “We have had some support for examination of extension of the hours, but some traders would probably find it a problem.”

Other suggestions were the investigation into removing signs and kerb lines from the areas and the trial of cycle access along designated routes on the footstreets.

This suggestion has raised concerns from York’s Blind And Partially Sighted Society, and a representative from the group reiterated those concerns at the meeting.

The council heard the schemes could be implemented for between £4,000 and £7,000, but was warned taking them to a public inquiry could increase that cost by £20,000.

If an inquiry was needed, it was suggested the plans be looked at alongside other schemes to reduce costs.

The council also heard a report from More For York, a council efficiency and improvement programme, which proposed City of York Council jobs would be reduced by 120 and expenditure would be cut by £5.7 million over the next financial year.

A representative of More For York said it was liaising closely with unions and hoped job cuts would not come through redundancies.

It was agreed by the executive that funding for this year’s Minster Mystery Plays would be reallocated to the York Mystery Plays 2012 partnership, after it was impossible to secure the Minster for the six-week period required to host the plays.