A PROPOSAL to create a lorry route through the middle of the site of an ancient monument in the north Cotswolds is being considered as one way of cutting pollution in the centre of Chipping Norton. The proposed route would take HGVs between the A44 and the A3400 right through the middle of the 5,000-year-old Rollright Stones, one of the country's foremost megalithic stone circles. The proposal, which would include the widening of Cross Hands Lane through the ancient site at an estimated cost of 5 million, is one of a number of options being considered as part of an action plan to reduce traffic pollution in Chipping Norton High Street and Horsefair.

Other proposals in the plan considered by West Oxfordshire District Council cabinet members yesterday (wed), include implementation of a system of traffic controls to push queues to the edge of Chipping Norton, the removal of the A44 primary route status in favour of forcing lorries to use alternative routes between Evesham and Oxford, and measures to stop motorists leaving engines of stationary vehicles idling. A proposal to build a Chipping Norton bypass either north or south of the town, at an estimated cost of between 16.5 million and 36 million respectively, is not being put forward at this stage. Neither is a suggested one-way scheme to route traffic along Albion Street, which consultants say would cut traffic in the High Street by 25 to 35 per cent at peak times but double traffic using Albion Street.

The district council is having to look at ways of reducing traffic emissions in the centre of Chipping Norton, which currently fails to meet government targets for nitrogen dioxide levels. But one of the most controversial proposals, which is likely to be included in the list of possible options put out for public consultation early next year, is certain to be the re-routing of HGVs between the A44 and the A3400 from the Cross Hands pub to east of the Rollright Stones. Traffic consultants say this would only be feasible if the current unclassified road, which already bissects the Rollright Stones site, was widened from 5.5metres to 7.3metres. They also say that the junctions at either end of the road would probably need replacing with lit roundabouts. "The most significant impact would be on the area of the Rollright Stones, a Scheduled Ancient Monument," the district council's environment protection and enforcement manager Philip Measures said in his report to councillors.

Karin Attwood, founder of the Rollright Stones Trust, described the proposal as a "non-starter". On both sides of the road you have scheduled monuments and because of the scheduled monument status it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain planning permission. I agree Chippy needs a bypass but it needs to be done at the bottom of the valley not over the ridgeway," said Ms Attwood. The Stones are considered to be a holy place by pagans, and druids celebrate the summer solstice there every year. Mr Measures said: "At the end of the day this is something that has been developed by officers. Ultimately, it is for council members to decide."

REPORT PROPOSES CONSULTATION
ON A ONE-WAY SYSTEM
(Just for the fun of it imagine yourself driving a huge HGV down
the Banbury Road heading for Stow. Where will you get stuck)
 

George Lambrick (right), the trustees' chairman, said: "The road goes right through the middle of a significant ancient monument, one of the first 50 scheduled in this country. "This proposal is absolutely crazy, it's nutty, and it's the first we know of it. We haven't been consulted at all. We've had problems with vandalism at the stones. We certainly don't need another form of it, with heavy lorries thundering past. It's just going to wreck what the site stands for. We will be objecting very strongly."

The site attracts thousands of visitors a year. There are two groups of stones, the Whispering Knights and King's Men and a single-standing King's Stone. The scheme would need scheduled ancient monument consent because of the heritage status of the prehistoric stones. It is one of a range of proposals, drawn up by consultants for West Oxfordshire District Council, which went on public exhibition at Chipping Norton town hall.

The town's Horsefair and High Street have nitrogen dioxide levels from traffic significantly above recommended Government levels. Town councillor and member of the A44 Action Group, which campaigns to reduce heavy lorries using the route from Oxford through to Evesham, Worcester and beyond, Eve Coles (left), said the amount of traffic in the town was and remains a key concern for residents. She said: "I'm concerned that people have their say on this. The levels are 50 per cent above what they should be and something needs to be done. Everyone has complained about all the heavy vehicles coming through the town."

The report said alternative traffic diversion schemes via bypasses to the south and north of the town were out of the question, as they would be massively expensive and take at least 10 years to deliver. Cheaper alternatives include imposing weight restrictions to divert heavy lorries out of the town centre on to other routes and to control traffic with a gate to shift congestion to the town outskirts.

AIR QUALITY PROPOSALS
BY-PASS ONE WAY SYSTEM WEIGHT LIMIT
 AFTER THE CONSULTATION WE NOW
AWAIT SOME RECOMMENDATIONS!
 

HASSLING HGVs - WILL IT WORK
Its certainly worth a try!

Just over a quarter of the vehicles stopped (26 per cent) were found by VOSA to have some form of mechanical defect.  Faults included faulty brake lights or no brake lights, loose front bumper, a defective trailer and a tachograph operation offence.

Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Community Safety Judith Heathcoat said: "We are very pleased with the results of yesterday's operation. It is vital that drivers and hauliers get the message that they are responsible for ensuring their vehicle is roadworthy and not overloaded. We hope the operation has also persuaded HGV drivers to consider the possibility of using alternative routes which avoid the centre of Chipping Norton."

This new initiative will hopefully be repeated. It has come about after consistent pressure from the County Councillor Hilary Biles to get some action to try and cut down on the weight of HGV traffic through the town. The next major development will be the publication of agreed recommendations on improving Air Quality - due  in early September.

EDITOR writes> It is good to see that a report on this road check is featured prominently on the industry website ROADTRANSPORT.com so perhaps other drivers will notice!!

FIVE YEARS ON AND NOTHING TO SHOW ON AIR QUALITY. NOT A DICKY BIRD!
A report on Air Quality in Chipping Norton was presented on 4th September 2008 to the Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Transport.

The traffic in our town is horrendous and getting worse. The Air Quality in the Town Centre is way below government standards. Five years ago the Town Council proposed in a submission to the Oxfordshire Transport Review that a weight limit should be introduced through the town - to drastically reduce the number of HGVs. (I know all about this because I wrote the submission). It included the following statement:

The key finding in this report is:

"...the option which appears to be the most suitable for inclusion in the Action Plan are measures to control lorry passage through the town.  It should be stressed in the Action Plan that all of these measures will require the consent of neighbouring authorities, which cannot be guaranteed, and that the effectiveness of such measures in reducing lorry numbers is variable. The measures will require additional investigation before specific proposals can be submitted for approval.  This investigation will include  imposing an environmental weight limit, including the scope and extent of any limit, costs, timescales and consultation with neighbouring and other affected councils."

The only substantial recommendation is:

The Cabinet Member for Transport is RECOMMENDED to support preparation of an Air Quality Action Plan for Chipping Norton on the basis of measures to reduce lorry movements through the town as the principal action.

So there you have it folks. We have gone full circle. Five years of bureaucratic delay and muddle and not a single step further forward. After rejecting the town's own proposal for a weight limit five years ago, the County have now agreed that a weight limit is the only serious option. I suppose we should be grateful for that but they still don't seem really convinced that its practical. The report sounds less than positive about it all. This is the ONLY recommendation and after five years they still haven't got it sorted properly. Amazing...

The most straightforward method of controlling heavy goods vehicles would be through the imposition of an environmental weight limit through the town.  To be effective this would require advance warning and signing of alternative routes.  For A44 traffic this could use the existing advisory route via Northleach, for traffic travelling to Banbury via A361 there are no obvious alternatives and this would need to be negotiated with the relevant neighbouring authorities.  A weight restriction is already in place on the parallel A3400 through Compton so this route would not be suitable.  A complicating factor to this is that the A44 is designated as the national Primary Route between Oxford and Evesham.  While this does not preclude the imposition of a weight limit there would be a contradiction if a restriction was placed, given that Primary Routes are a major component of the National Lorry Route Network.  This would be likely to place a limit on the level of compliance with any local restriction.  Removal of Primary Route status from the A44 would require the designation of an alternative Oxford-Evesham Primary Route with the agreement of the relevant highway authorities and government offices.  There would also be considerable cost given that this would require the replacement of green backed signs with white ones without which the change in status would not be evident to drivers. Enforcement is a considerable issue with any environmental weight limit given that the general exception for access makes identification of offending vehicles very difficult.  This would be particularly the case for a limit in Chipping Norton where the alternative routes would represent a considerable increase in both distance travelled and time taken.

And so they are recommending yet more investigation and consultation before actually proposing it to government. This makes any action years away! For goodness sake Heathrow Terminal 5 was agreed faster than this. For myself I think they are just having a laugh - at our expense. Nobody has the slightest intention of doing anything about air quality in Chippy!  I think both councils (County and District) believe that if the talking can be strung out long enough low emission or even electric lorries and buses will have arrived and the problem will disappear. So meantime carry on wheezing Chippy. Just don't hold your breath.

Air Quality action plan approved

West Oxfordshire District Councils Cabinet has endorsed a plan to improve air quality in Chipping Norton. The plan will involve seeking approval to de-trunk parts of the A44 so that heavy goods vehicles are re-routed away from the town. The area around Horsefair in Chipping Norton was declared an Air Quality Management Area in 2005 because of the high levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution caused largely by traffic and, in particular, heavy goods vehicles. Further investigations followed and a draft action plan was published outlining a number of options. The Plan took into account any adverse impact each option might have, such as transfer of pollution to other areas, increases in noise or congestion or harm to the environment such as the destruction of ecologically sensitive areas and habitats.

Earlier this year the public gave their views on the options and a traffic management proposal was produced by Oxfordshire County Council as the Highways authority. The re-routing proposal includes changing road signs and imposing vehicle weight limit restrictions on traffic coming into Chipping Norton. Approval for this measure is dependent on consultation with neighbouring authorities, as the A44 signage crosses county boundaries and will impact on several local authorities. Oxfordshire County Council will also investigate whether introducing a low emission zone in Chipping Norton will allow for better enforcement of the restrictions.

Cllr David Harvey, Cabinet Member for Environment said, People living in Chipping Norton have had to put up with the effects of heavy traffic for many years and so we are pleased to be supporting this proposal.  We are concerned that in the long term it may not solve the air quality problem. Because of this we are asking Oxfordshire County Council to seek regional funding for a more significant scheme. In the meantime we will continue to monitor air quality levels.