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Council denies bowing to MP pressure over HGV road map
Page 14
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By Chris Tindatt CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council has denied removing a major A-road through the county from a strategic freight route map because of pressure from an MP, who branded it unsuitable.
The new Cambridgeshire Advisory Freight Map is designed to help hauliers calculate the best routes to take when travelling through the county.
A public consultation on the listed roads begins this month. but South East Cambridgeshire Conservative MP James Paice has already described the inclusion of the A1123 as "madness': When CM contacted the council, it said it had already decided to downgrade the road, which provides an alternative to the heavily congested A14 between Huntingdon and Soham, from a strategic route to a local route.
A spokesman says: "It had been discussed already. There are a lot of villages on that route, as opposed to others that could he used. Our cabinet member has indicated that we downgrade it to a local route just for hauliers based on that route, or [for those] delivering along that route.
He adds: "This is not an antilorry or an anti-HGV project. We have thousands of hauliers using Cambridgeshire roads they do an important job. Our economy wouldn't thrive without hauliers. Saying that, density of traffic on Cambridgeshire's rural roads is higher than average."
However, Paice says he cannot believe the decision would have occurred without his intervention: "It is good news, but I cannot believe they were discussing it already. They have only just put the plans out."
Pete Butler, Road Haulage Association senior area manager, says it supports the freight map, but that encouraging hauliers not to use the road would create "a hell of a diversion':
"It's quite a long route," he adds. "It would involve a major diversion route onto the A14. It's a good road as well."