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HA sits on Orwell Crossing legal advice 'for public good'
Page 12
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By Chris Tindati THE HIGHWAYS Agency (HA) has upheld a decision not to release the legal advice it received that would explain why it attempted to ban the public from eating and drinking at a Suffolk truck park.
The boss of Orwell Crossing Lorry Park has been fighting a long-running battle with the Government agency regarding restrictions it has placed on his business.
This reached a head last summer when its attempts to prevent members of the public from buying food and drink at the truck park was challenged by owner Karl Rout ('Orwell allowed to serve the public conditionally', CM 2 August 2007).
Planning inspector Michael Ellison found in favour of the park, but restrictions on advertising the site on the A14 are still in place.
CM appealed against an HA decision not to provide the legal advice it was given, as requested under the Freedom of Information Act, which would explain why it thought it necessary to limit visitors to the truck park a move which threatened the viability of the business. But HA information service delivery director Simon SheldonWilson claims that public interest favours withholding the information and that the advice it received is too recent.
He says: "The reasons I have arrived at this decision are as follows. The legal advice provided to the HA is still live and is continued to be relied upon in this case; the legal advice remains recent in that it is less than two years old."