Notts lorry ban threat
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by Juliet Parish • Hauliers face being banned from 100km2 (40 square miles) of Nottinghamshire and the prospect of extra journeys of up to 16km (10 miles), unless they persuade local councillors to scrap their proposal by October.
And they have until the end of this month to object to the restriction on trucks over 17 tonnes before it is put to Nottinghamshire County Council's environmental committee.
Under the plan trucks over 17 tonnes would be allowed only in the restricted triangular-shaped area for deliveries or collections. Otherwise they would be banned from the area bordered by the A614 in the east at Blidworth, to the A617 in the north at Rainworth and the A60 in the west at Ravenshead.
The proposal would block off
a popular route hauliers use to get from the A614 in the east to the A60 and M1 in the west.
For Warsopbased Bowring Transport it would cut off three vital routes, forcing around 100 of its truck journeys to detour every week. Managing director David Bowring says that all the ban would do is push traffic on to roads bordering the ban for much longer periods than they need to be on the road—many of his trucks' single journeys could increase by around I6km (10 miles), pushing dery costs up, he says.
But the council estimates 8km (five miles) would be the most trucks would have to go out of their way in a single direction. And it defends this detour by claiming that many of the area's roads, particularly in Blidworth, are "substandard with narrow carriageways" which could cause pedestrian accidents.