I HAVE a confession to make. In the past six months I have actively looked for excuses to go across Lendal Bridge during the day. Once I managed it twice in ten minutes, and each time I blessed the genius who thought of closing it.

I was, of course, on a bicycle. I wouldn’t go near it in a car.

Then there have been the many times I’ve wanted to wring the neck of the madman who came up with the crazy idea of closing it to traffic – when I’ve been stuck in my car in the traffic jams caused by people trying to get round Lendal Bridge, such as the time it took me 40 minutes to get 100 yards along Shipton Road towards Water End.

Now we hear that the trial will be continued past the six months that finished yesterday while the council decides whether to continue it indefinitely. I hope that at that meeting, the councillors judge its effects dispassionately, look at all the evidence, not just that which supports their own views, and forget about their egos.

But whatever they decide, all they will be doing is moving the traffic jams and their accompanying delays and pollution around York. They won’t be doing anything about tackling the problem itself. The phrase rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic comes to mind.

This is the iceberg which is slowly sinking York under traffic jams: York is a tourist city and shopping centre surrounded by beautiful countryside where there are lots of tourist attractions and very little public transport.

Take one example. If you try to get to Beningbrough Hall by public transport, the nearest bus stop is a mile away with very few buses. The hall is just eight miles from York. I am sure you can come up with many other examples both in North and East Yorkshire.

So if you are a tourist, using York as a base or visiting from a base in the Yorkshire Dales, or the Yorkshire Wolds, or the Hambleton Hills or the North York Moors, or if you are popping in for some shopping from the Vales of York and Ryedale, or East Yorkshire, or Selby district, of course you use a car.

If you’re planning a family holiday and live in another part of the country, you will bring your family car and park it as near as you can to your hotel, and if you arrive by train, you will want a set of wheels when you arrive. It’s no coincidence there are three vehicle-hire companies or near York Station and at least 12 in York overall.

Many of those cars will want to cross the river somewhere. Closing or opening Lendal Bridge won’t change that and the more we encourage tourism and shopping in York, the more cars we will have.

The only way to reduce pollution and traffic jams in York is to encourage tourists and shoppers from villages and towns outside York to use public transport. They won’t do that if it means using infrequent buses that stop miles from where they want to be.

If the council is serious about tackling York’s traffic problem, it will work with the neighbouring councils to create more public transport between the city and North and East Yorkshire by bus and train.

That means looking at new routes and upping the number of buses and trains. No only will that benefit the residents and visitors of York alike through less pollution, it will also strengthen the industries which power its economy.

So this is my message to the council: while you’re rearranging the deckchairs on Lendal Bridge, look up at the looming iceberg and do something about it before York grinds to a complete standstill.