indsor Cordon's ost, fuel penal
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e news of the objection foil ws hard on the heels of lett rs from the National Far ers' Union and Road Ha lage Association directorgen ral George Newman to Tra sport Minister Norman Fo ler asking for a public inqui into the whole question of t e Cordon. But Berkshire County Council spokesmen said that the levels of traffic using the Windsor area had dropped from 2850 to 1510 vehicles over three tons unladen per 12-hour day since the ban was introduced.
RHA highways and traffic expert George Mitchell told CM that the cost of the ban on vehicles on some roads in the area had risen to about £1000 per house said to benefit from the ban.
The FTA says that the number of homes to benefit from the Cordon is 417 — but the number which suffer from increased noise as a result of the Cordon is 544.
Mr Mitchell told CM that the County Council did not seem to have produced much of a change since the Cordon was introduced 12 months ago and he said that the BCC reports came to the same conclusions that the Transport and Road Research Laboratory had reached.
Berkshire will be considering the ban at a meeting on September 18. A council spokesman told CM that no major routes in the area were affected by the Cordon – and in any case there are permits available for those who need to get into the affected area.
The cordon scheme has been operating for 12 months as an experiment and after the next six-month period the council must either make the ban permanent or abandon it.
But in the meantime an appeal over the imposition of the Cordon is due to be heard in the High Court – but no date has been set. The three objectors lost the original appeal but this hearing will be over a point of law.
Mr Mitchell said that there is not likely to be a reply from the Minister on the question of a public inquiry for at least two weeks but in the meantime the RHA too has formally objected to the Cordon.