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Somerset weight restridion proposal branded 'ludicrous'
Page 18
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The FTA says the restriction has "enormous" safety implications
because LGVs will not be able to turn around. Chris Tindall reports.
OPERATORS AND trade associations have called the decision to introduce a 7.5-tonne weight restriction on a Somerset road "ludicrous" after it emerged that LGVs will not have enough space to turn around.
Two meetings involving North Somerset Council, the Freight Transport Association (FTA), the Road Haulage Association and environmental pressure groups have been held to discuss LGV restrictions on the A368 and the B3134 near Cheddar in the Mendip Hills (CM 22 March). A joint report by North Somerset and Somerset councils expressed reservations about the idea, but the VIA says this vas ignored by the scrutiny panel in favour of a document supplied by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and Transport Management for the Villages.
However, ETA regional policy manager Ian Gallagher says the decision has "enormous" safety implications because without adequate signage, LGVs will be forced to brake and be unable to turn around and find alternative routes.
Nick Huff, for local business Stowells of Yatton, says even the police arc unhappy with the ban: "They won't enforce a weight limit that is on environmental grounds: they will support a weight limit on safety grounds, but they won't waste their manpower."
He adds: -Instead of trucks going over the Mendips with very few houses and no villages, they will have to go down the A371, which will take them through about half a dozen villages."
A North Somerset Council spokesman confirms the weight restriction "is on the cards, but we can't give an exact date".