A west Suffolk town is unlikely to get a long-awaited and much-needed bypass because it would be “too expensive”, the county’s highways chief has confirmed.

Suffolk County Council cabinet member for roads, Graham Newman, hosted a transport forum in Sudbury last week to discuss the future of the town’s road network, and decide how an allocated £450,000 could best be spent.

Three key areas have been identified as priority projects, but some local councillors believe a bypass is what is needed to solve Sudbury’s traffic woes in the long term. However, Mr Newman said the work would cost around £10million and there was “not enough money in the system” to spend on a bypass.

But if some of the schemes discussed at the forum go ahead, there could still be radical changes to the way traffic flows around the town centre.

The ideas, which are due to be drawn up into detailed plans by the county council during the next three months, include measures to solve ongoing problems around Belle Vue junction, Great Eastern Road and the bus station.

The new scheme could introduce a major roundabout at Belle Vue junction that would enable vehicles to turn right up Newton Road from Cornard Road, which could ease traffic congestion around Waitrose and Easterns night club.

The county has allocated £450k to be spent by 2015 on Sudbury projects and Mr Newman said the money should be “spent wisely”. Other ideas include replacing the bus station with a hopper bus network with multiple drop off points.