Access-only plan is not needed in York
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HEAVY VEHICLES should not be banned from York despite the pleas of environmentalists, according to the North Yorkshire engineer and surveyor Col G. A. Leech in a report.
The report to the North Yorkshire County Council's Highways and Transportation Committee estimates that it would cost £400,000 a year to "displace" the 600 vehicle journeys made each day through York.
Col Leech reports that proposals for a 140-square-mile area which would be "access only" for heavy vehicles would lead to enforcement problems and more staff would have to be taken on to administer it.
The "access-only" plan came after complaints from residents in some areas that noise and vibration and other dangers were being caused by lorries taking short cuts through the city on journeys from Teesside and Hull docks.
Col Leech said the system envisaged would require a cordon of "plugs". Drivers with local knowledge would soon find their way around the cordon, though, and would go through small villages instead.
Instead of bans and restricted areas Col Leech wants to see the completion of the York outer ring road, but local environmentalists say that the road will take another seven years to complete and they want to see experiments with vehicle bans in the meantime.
But even without the plan it is likely that Deangate, York will be closed to heavy traffic following a request from the Dean of York, Dr Ronald Jasper, who wants it closed from next Easter.