LORRIES could be banned from using Eastleigh town centre during the rush hour.

The controversial pollution-busting move would not apply to 999 vehicles and buses.

But it would mean that the brakes would be slammed on lorries delivering to town centre stores from 8am to 10am and 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

The proposed area for the ban would be bounded by Leigh Road, Passfield Avenue, Chestnut Avenue, Southampton Road, Nightingale Estate, Twyford Road and Bishopstoke Road as far as Chickenhall Lane.

The borough council will now investigate whether such a ban would be feasible and what effect it will have on the local economy.

Although no decision has yet been made a town centre traders' leader has expressed reservations over whether it would work.

Charles Sims, chairman of the Eastleigh Town Centre Group, said: "I have sympathy on where the council is coming from but I don't feel in practice it will work very well because there is no viable alternative."

The Chickenhall Link, which is the vital key to relieving heavy congestion in the town centre, is still a long way off.

Mr Sims, who has a business in the town centre, said he could not see how deliveries could be stopped for a set period of time and is concerned where the lorries would wait before they were allowed into the town.

The move to crack down on lorry pollution comes as national studies reveal children living near main roads are double the risk of asthma.

Councillor Chris Thomas, who has called for the investigation, said: "Stationary or slow moving diesel lorries release significantly higher amounts of pollutants as they are running inefficiently.

"There is poor movement of air to dissipate the pollutants into the air.

"This can be order of four times the equivalent of a vehicle at 30mph."