indsor Cordon: is his a precedent?

5th July 1980, Page 5

5th July 1980

Page 5

Page 5, 5th July 1980 — indsor Cordon: is his a precedent?

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E WINDSOR CORDON is legal. Master of the Rolls Lord nning ruled last week that the scheme which keeps heavy es out of a 40sq mile zone around the town is in order, and industry fears that a precedent has been set.

Weight limit 5 tons on all routes south of Windsor

The Freight Transport sociation, Road Haulage sociation, and the National rmers Union contested a High urt decision in December 78 in which Mr Justice Neill iid that Berkshire County )uncil's zone order was lawful. The judge said then that it ovided a "cordon sanitaire" ound three sides of Windsor to the south, west, and east by banning vehicles of more an five tons from certain 'etches of road.

The three Court of Appeal dges last week dismissed the ipeal with costs, and the three ganisations were refused )ve to appeal to the House of irds.

Lord Denning said: "'This tack on the Windsor Cordon ils. This lorry traffic experient, said to have been the first its kind in Britain, seems to ive been successful.

''If it is applied in other untries, it may be all the better r people who have to try to gulate the traffic of heavy Immercial vehicles.

The appeal involved techniI and detailed interpretation of e 1967 Road Traffic Regula)ns Act, as amended by rious other Acts, in particular e 1973 Heavy Commercial ihides (Control and Regula ■ ns) Act — the Dykes Act.

The court was not concerned th the merits of the case, but ily with the question of lether the county council zone der complied with that of Parment.

Counsel for the three organaeons said the lorry ban might a blessing in some respects

r ECO is committed to tying large numbers of Ritz engines for the next ur years. The KHD parent ,mpany points out that it ikes all of the air-cooled lines used in Magirus )utz lorries produced by the ECO group. Its Cologne ctory will continue to sup, units until 1984 when the esent contract is due for

for those living within the 40mile zone, but the effect was to force lorries out into other areas.

The decision has come as a blow to the FTA and RHA which were holding the Court of Appeal case out as being their last chance to prevent such bans from becoming widespread.

The RHA said: "We, as one of the operators' organisations who had sought to clarify the law are very concerned that the law is being applied in a way which we believe was never envisaged by those who framed the Act.

-If local authorities use this finding in a capricious and irresponsible way, then at the extreme case all those who operate vehicles, not only lorries, but also coaches, cars and motorcycles may find no roads for them to use:'

For the FTA, planning and traffic services controller Richard Turner said he was "thoroughly disappointed"' by the decision, and said that the Association is looking closely at the implications for its members.

He said that Lord Denning's ruling, which was supported by Lords Justice Waller and Dunn, meant that local authorities have power to retain total discretion to issue or not to issue permits as they see fit.

But he did praise Berkshire County Council's perseverence in sticking to its guns on the cordon. "They have done a good service for the people in Windsor, but if the technique is adopted elsewhere, it will do nothing to help industry."

IIIICoach cordons? See p.25