Scrap of comfort in Leeds short-cut ban
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THE BAN on heavy lorries on the A58 Leeds-Wetherby road is here to stay. Despite interruptions and vigorous outbursts, a joint meeting of West Yorkshire transportation and Leeds area committees made the experimental ban permanent last week, as expected.
But the Government inspector did recommend that another trunk road be built between the MI and the Al to carry M62 traffic, and said it should have a high priority. This is what the RHA and the FTA want.
The ban, first introduced in February 1978, prohibits commercial vehicles over 5 tons unladen weight from using the A58 shortcut from the M1 and M62 to the Al at Wetherby through Leeds.
There was strong opposition at the public inquiry in March from the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association, but the Government inspector came down in favour of extending the ban.
This latest decision by the council to accept the inspector's recommendation was widely expected. Earlier, the RHA had said it was "disappointed but not surprised".
Last week's council meeting was continually disrupted by shouting from women members of the A64 (York Road) Residents' Action Group. They are against the ban, because 80 per cent of the displaced lorry traffic now uses the A64 York Road out of Leeds as the next best shortcut to the Al.
A spokesman for the group echoed the RHA and the FTA when he said that the weight ban does not solve the problem — it merely pushes it to another area. It has not achieved its aim of compelling lorries to use the M62.
The residents' action group, though, has said this will take at least 10 years to build and has promised to take further, more drastic, action — perhaps even blocking the A64, it hints.
At last week's council meeting, one councillor pressed for an even stiffer ban, prohibiting all lorries above 16 tons gross weight. The over five tons unladen weight ban was upheld in the face of evidence that it is costing hauliers an extra £1.4m a year in time and diesel.
Confirming the ban, the committee also called for the introduction of advisory signs to be erected on the M62, warning east-bound heavy lorries to continue on the motorway rather than cutting through Leeds to reach the northbound Al.