Issue - meetings

Forward Plan Ref: 2018/119

Contact: Owen South, Senior Transport Planner Tel: 07932 605693

Report by Director for Planning & Place (CMDE4).

This report seeks Cabinet Member approval in principle for an 18 month experimental environmental weight limit covering the length of Burford High Street between the A40 roundabout to the south and the A361/A424 junction just north of Burford Bridge. 

The town council, local residents and local members of the county council have been campaigning for a weight limit for Burford for many years to address concerns about noise, vibration, air pollution and road safety issues associated with lorry traffic as well as the negative impact on the town's tourist economy.

However, this is being taken forwards on a temporary, experimental basis initially because of concerns raised in traffic modelling work that lorries might divert via other towns and villages, transferring these problems there instead.  This would not be acceptable but there is some scepticism about how accurately it is possible to predict such diversion and an expectation that much of the lorry traffic diverting away from Burford would do so via major A roads and motorways, particularly in the case of long distance lorry traffic.  Traffic monitoring will therefore be carried out at a number of key locations in order to identify any possible, adverse effects.

The cost of implementation, including the major costs of signing and enforcement, would be met by the local community.  This project would be the first community funded weight limit in Oxfordshire and can be seen as a pilot for other such schemes elsewhere in future.

The details of enforcement and the operation of a permit scheme (for local access to locations outside Burford High Street for which avoiding the High Street would be too onerous) have yet to be finalised.  The intention is to devolve a major part of enforcement activity to Burford Town Council.  However, this requires further work by OCC Trading Standards and Legal Services; when this is concluded, a further report will be taken to CMD.  

The Cabinet Member for Environment is RECOMMENDED to

(a)             approve in principle an experimental weight limit order for Burford, subject to agreement on local funding, evaluation and success criteria, and enforcement arrangements as described above;

(b)             request a further report setting out these proposals in detail for consideration at a future Cabinet Member for Environment Delegated Decisions meeting, to enable the scheme to be implemented subject to their approval.

Approved

Approved

The Cabinet Member for Environment considered a report (CMDE4) seeking approval in principle for an 18-month experimental environmental weight limit covering the length of Burford High Street between the A40 roundabout to the south and the A361/A424 junction just north of Burford Bridge. 

James Kitcher-Jones spoke in support. Chipping Norton Town Council had campaigned for many years to reduce heavy traffic levels in the town.  Pending  provision of a relief road they saw this as a necessary measure to reduce pollution in the town which was 50% above legal limits and the 300 HGVs which currently travelled through the town.

Responding to the Cabinet Member he could not put a specific figure on vehicle reduction but the town council were confident that it would be a significant reduction.

District Councillor Neil Owen felt the case had been well made for introduction of an order and he thanked the officers and everyone who had been involved in the process. He was confident that the trial period would clearly illustrate the benefits to be gained and hoped that in time the measure would become permanent.

Speaking in support Ken Gray pointed out that Department of Transport statistics showed HGV traffic to be predominantly long-distance originating from outside Oxfordshire; mainly north to south or south to north with east west traffic emanating from or to Bourton-on-the-Water. Diversion of north-south traffic would be by the M40/A34/A320 or the A429 to Cirencester or the A40 for east – west and not through local towns and villages. This diversion had been supported by patterns of traffic when the A361 between Burford and Chipping Norton had been closed in March 2018 and had not resulted in any increase in HGV traffic on the Witney-Charlbury road, the Witney-Bladon road or the Stow-Chipping Norton road with traffic diverted to M40. The experimental order would show whether or not that trend would continue with substantial reductions in pollution levels in Witney and Chipping Norton. He added that no results should be used from the OCC model forecasting HGV routes which officers had acknowledged were inadequate.

John White endorsed the comments made by earlier speakers and welcomed the experimental order which would allow a decision to be taken based on fact and not assumption. He asked that the order specifically refer to vehicles of 7.5 tonnes accepting a comment from the Cabinet Member that there would need to be permitted exemptions.

District Councillor Julian Cooper was concerned and confident that this scheme would bring more traffic to Woodstock the impact of which would be felt in a town where front doors were closer to traffic than in Burford; with many services under the highway which would be put at risk and close to a World Heritage Site. He then posed a question that if this order was granted and a precedent set in Burford it would make it difficult to resist a similar request from Woodstock Town and so rather than adopt a piece meal approach to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59