Cotswold lorry management scheme "A stitch up" says RHA

Gloucestershire County Council’s Traffic Regulation Committee has approved the Cotswold Lorry Management scheme by a vote of 4 to 3 despite a spirited objection from the RHA.

“This Lorry Management Scheme was a Conservative Manifesto commitment and since the Traffic Regulation Committee comprised a majority of Conservative counsellors it was probably a foregone conclusion that the scheme would be approved” said the RHA’s Regional Director Mike Farmer”.

He continued “I don’t think anything we said would have made any difference even though this scheme is going to cost some £500,000 of ratepayers’ money to implement and will provide only modest benefits – words used by the Council itself”.

The area wide weight limit will only have the effect of reducing the number of lorries by between 20 and 40% because the majority of lorries are in the area to deliver or collect goods. Therefore, the residents will still see lorries when they probably have the expectation of seeing no lorries at all. Local hauliers are bracing themselves to receive a deluge of complaints when in fact their lorries will be in the area quite legitimately. Enforcement of the weight limit is going to be negligible because the police will not devote additional resources to it and the Trading Standards have recently had their budget cut. Additionally, the increasing number of foreign lorries transitting the area will continue to do so with impunity.

“What is worrying is that the Committee accepted that this scheme would have the effect of increasing CO2 emissions in the area by 0.5% when everyone else is under pressure to reduce CO2 emissions. This is only the thin end of the wedge and I think we will see more of this type of area wide weight limits which will make life increasingly difficult for the hauliers”, Mike Farmer concluded.