Barry McDonald, a former member of the CBD future car parking working group, says the council has a traffic committee and enough staff expertise to "come up with the right solution."

"I don't like the report and I think councillors should consider rejecting it, but it's your call," he told councillors during open forum at Tuesday's meeting.

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As it happened, councillors only partly agreed with Bitzios Consulting that a 40km/h speed limit be applied to a proposed 'high pedestrian activity area' in the city's core. This fell within Bourke, Bradley, Sloane and Clinton Streets, but the limit would not apply to the latter three thoroughfares.

Instead, on Tuesday they agreed to apply to the Roads and Maritime Service to reduce the speed to 40km/h in Auburn Street only. This would enable creation of a pedestrian area, complete with treatments, signage and linemarking. The council will seek grant funding for these aspects.

Mayor Bob Kirk said to do anything else was "going beyond" what the council's 2017 CBD plan had proposed. That plan had sought public comment in part on a 40km/h speed limit only for Auburn Street.

"I think anything other wouldn't be a decision for tonight and would have to go to community consultation," he said.

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Mr McDonald said he was "alarmed" to read parts of the report. He argued there was no need to have a 40km/h zone for Bourke Street, between Clinton and Bradley Streets, or for Auburn Street.

"The 50km/h speed limit is quite sufficient," he said.

Mr McDonald agreed with general manager Warwick Bennett's comment in the staff report that the lower speed limit "might cause community frustration."

He also took to task "traffic obstacles" such as extended kerbs and 'speed hump platforms' for pedestrian crossings. They were designed to slow down motorists but Mr McDonald branded them "ridiculous", saying they would only cause rear-end impacts and pedestrian injuries.

Council management commissioned the study to further investigate the 40km/h Auburn Street speed limit recommended in the CBD masterplan.

A council spokesman said the RMS paid for the report.

It included crash history, speed and traffic volume data. Out of the 72 crashes in the area bordered by Bourke, Bradley, Sloane and Clinton between 2013 and 2018, 10 involved pedestrians. Six of these were in Auburn Street, but just one in Bourke Street.

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Consultants found that about 30 per cent of vehicles were travelling above the sign-posted 50km/h speed limit on Bourke Street.

Operations director Matt O'Rourke recommended the 40km/h zone given the high number of pedestrians from homes, small businesses, Goulburn Public School, Bourke Street Health Service, the new ambulance station, the Civic Centre and churches.

But Mr McDonald argues the study should have also included pedestrian counts.

"It is interesting that both the director of operations and the general manager comment that traffic in Auburn Street only travels at 40kmh anyway. So why the need to change it?" he asked.

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Mr McDonald also advised against raised medians and landscaping in a section of the Auburn Street median for 'pedestrian safety.' He said these would only create obstacles for motorists.

"One good thing we have is nice wide streets but I see them shrinking," he said.

Councillors were mixed in their views. Deputy Mayor Peter Walker maintained the CBD's pedestrian area was 'poor' and agreed with a blanket 40km/h limit to iron out inconsistencies. Cr Margaret O'Neill echoed the view.

But Cr Leah Ferrara said she strongly opposed the 40km/h speed for Bourke Street.

"You (Cr Walker) say there are so many speed limits already. This just makes it more confusing," she said.

Cr Denzil predicted it would increase congestion, while Cr Andrew Banfield spruiked the benefits of raised medians as a pedestrian safety measure.

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The consultants also recommended either a roundabout at the Bourke/Montague Street intersection or extending the median across Montague Street to make this a left-in, left-out arrangement.

A council spokesman said a roundabout at this intersection was on the priority list, but was not programmed within the next two years.

All recommendations in the Bitzios report will be referred to a future councillor briefing session.

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