Vehicles will still be able to drive into Armidale's Beardy Street Mall, but a review will be conducted into how many vehicles use the precinct as council says it raises safety concerns.
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The issue arose after Tattersalls Hotel made a request to Armidale Regional Council to conduct a trial, which would allow taxis to drop off people at the hotel in the evening and early morning.
But that request, which would have involved removing the stage, signings and bollards, prompted a backlash, from councillors who said there was little detail, and the community.
The council rejected the request last month.
As well as delivery vans, the mall has also been used by council and security vehicles.
In the meantime, three councillors indicated they would take it to this month's council meeting to amend the decision so vehicles could still use the mall, and insisted the only intention of last month's vote was to deny the trial requested by Tattersalls.
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One of those councillors, Margaret O'Connor described the move to ban all vehicles as an overreaction.
"We were dismayed that the mayor and staff seemed to have taken the view that a simple decision to reject a proposal for change could then substantiate, or be inferred, as meaning that current arrangements for businesses in the mall should be interfered with," Cr O'Connor said after this week's council meeting.
"I just thought it was bizarre.
"Nothing that we decided in the previous meeting, with respect to prospective changes made any reference to justifying changes to current arrangements," she said.
While this week's decision means vehicle access will continue as normal for the time being, council CEO Susan Law confirmed a third party external review is being organised by the council to review the current traffic movements.
It will include those by commercial vehicles to provide an understanding of the risks and potential mitigations required for future consideration by council.
The Armidale Express has been told this particularly concerns traffic entering from Faulkner Street.
