Members of the South West Regional Freight Council of the Freight Transport Association (FTA), have reacted in disbelief to the latest “Lorry Management Strategy” proposed by Gloucestershire County Council.
Apart from the weight, height, length and access restrictions that have already been introduced on a number of routes across Gloucestershire, radical new proposals being actively promoted by the County Council include the introduction of area-wide lorry restrictions in a number of locations.
The first under consideration is the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which would also be subject to night-time curfews between the hours of 21h00 and 05h00am. The night-time ban would affect all roads in the AONB except the A40 and A417 which are national through routes.
FTA’s head of policy- Midlands, Wales and South West, Stephen Kelly, called the proposals “utterly ridiculous”. According to Kelly, one of the objectives of the County Council’s latest Local Transport Plan is ‘to manage, maintain and improve the transport network to meet local transport needs more effectively for all users.’
“The net effect of these proposals, including the night-time ban for HGVs, will be an increase in traffic on those already heavily over-used routes not only during the daytime, but also during the night-time as more lorries are forced onto fewer roads,” said Kelly. “I wonder whether the County Council has considered the impact the additional traffic on these ‘restriction-free’ routes will have on the environment and, even more importantly, on road safety.”
He added: “While the County Council openly states that the Lorry Route Strategy has been developed through consultation and partnership with freight organisations, I can categorically state that this has not been the case, which leads me to believe that the County Council considers this a ‘fait accompli’ and that the proposals are politically driven.”
Kelly said that the consequences of such proposals could be catastrophic for all concerned. Operators will have to re-route vehicles, which will undoubtedly lead to increased costs and stock-outs at the shops.
