Roads expert makes a stand – by lying down in Shropshire street

Mr Hamilton-Baillie offered a laid-back approach during a visit to the Shropshire market town of Shifnal.

He is a world authority on "shared spaces", a new way of thinking in which traffic lights, signs and street signs are ripped up.

Shifnal Forward, which works with the town council, invited the expert as it is considering whether to take on the radical idea.

And Mr Hamilton-Baille said it and other market towns could greatly benefit from a new approach in which the pedestrian comes first.

To illustrate the point, he turned heads by laying in the street during a fact-finding walkabout.

He said: "Traffic, crossings and lights all form a very significant part of Shifnal centre. But Shifnal is a fascinating place – a medieval town centre, some fantastic old buildings.

"The nature of market towns is changing, for the first time, and it is changing in our lifetime.

"They used to be the first place people came for goods and services, but now people don't actually have to come into town, they can go to big out-of-town supermarkets or go online for shopping and social interaction.

"There is no doubt at the moment that the traffic, crossings, lights all form a very significant part of Shifnal centre, and it may be that people think that is the way it is. But Shifnal is a fascinating place – there is this huge Victorian structure, the railway bridge, dominating, a largely medieval town centre, some fantastic old buildings.

"The dominating feature here at the moment is a huge sweeping bend in the road. It is not what you would use to show-off Shifnal.

"The task for Shifnal is that it can only prosper if it is made more Shifnal-like. Now, this could be anywhere, what makes Shifnal special is the fantastic buildings.

"Am I confident things can be changed? Yes.

"It will be a big change, any change to streets is slow and difficult but particularly since the Poynton scheme, which has shown it can work, it is a really different area but it has made people confident that these schemes can work."

Mr Hamilton-Baillie has developed shared spaces schemes in towns across the UK and Europe and is now working with residents and councillors in Shifnal in a bid to develop a new traffic model for the market town.

The idea of shared spaces is gradually finding favour across Shropshire, with a scheme already planned for the multi-million pound Southwater development in Telford.

The initiative involves removing road furtniture, leaving drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to make use of the same area.

Shared space has already been embraced in Holland, where the concept's creator Hans Monderman lived, as well as in parts of Britain including in London, Kent and Cheshire.

One of the first schemes to be trialled in Britain was in Ashford, in Kent.

Although the scheme was met with mixed responses, it led to a 41 per cent drop in accidents in which people were injured.

Since then it has been taken on in Hereford and Poynton in Cheshire.

Now, people in Shifnal are hoping that Mr Hamilton-Baillie will be able to develop the scheme to suit the town, reducing the existing traffic problems and preparing Shifnal for an increase in population when a number of new housing developments planned for the town are approved.

Mr Hamilton-Baillie joined members of the Shifnal Forward group and councillors for a walk around the town centre yesterday, before putting together a shared spaces design for the town, which he was set to present to them in the evening.

The proposal for the shared spaces scheme in Shifnal is the flagship project of Shifnal Forward, a group of local people that works with the town council for plans to improve life in the town.