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Council dismisses hauliers' pleas for access to road
Page 14
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By David Harris HAULIERS OBJECTING to plans to impose a weight limit on a Somerset road have been dismissed by the council introducing the restriction.
This week (4 August) saw the start of a 7.5-tonne weight restriction imposed by North Somerset Council on a section of the A368, The restriction applies to the road from its junction with the A38 to just west of the B3134 at Burrington Coombe.
Both the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and the Road Haulage Association (RHA) have described the plans as flawed, even though hauliers delivering to the area will be able to apply for a permit to use the road.
The council has been unsympathetic to hauliers' pleas. Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, deputy leader and executive member for strategic planning, says: "There has been full consultation on this, including two Policy and Scrutiny panel meetings where the haulage industry was able to make its case. "In both instances they failed to convince members of their arguments and therefore we will be going ahead with this experimental order and will monitor it as it progresses." Mike Moore, area manager for the RHA, says: "North Somerset's proposal for a weight restriction on the A368 will prove to be a complete disaster."
Both the RHA and the FTA say that the permit scheme is poorly thought through and still want the restriction order to be scrapped.