Congestion charge bid on lorries passing through Chideock on A35 (From Dorset Echo)
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Congestion charge bid on lorries passing through Chideock on A35
2:30pm Wednesday 10th August 2011 in News By Rene Gerryts
A LONDON-style congestion charge may be introduced to force lorries out of a west Dorset village.
Chideock resident Tony Fuller has waging a ‘campaign of chaos’ for over a year to highlight pollution problems from heavy goods vehicles.
Now he says it has all been worth it as he receives encouraging updates from West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin.
Mr Fuller, who is suffering from cancer and has had three heart attacks since the protest began, said: I think it has been worth all the effort. This is what I have been hoping and praying for.”
He said that he had been given hope in a letter from the MP – including references to a low emission zone.
The London Low Emission Zone includes charges for commercial vehicles with emissions over a certain level – but it also includes diversionary routes and in some cases allows vehicles to turn around to avoid the zone.
Mr Fuller and a group of villagers carried out direct action protest by repeatedly using the pelican crossing and disrupting traffic.
Behind the scenes Mr Fuller also met Mr Letwin and Highways Agency officials.
He says he has heard from Mr Letwin with progress on diverting HGVs who have no local business away from the A35.
Mr Letwin said the first signs of progress were likely in the autumn and a good deal of work was now underway.
He said: “I think we have been making some real progress with the Highways Agency and the two councils.
“We have established that it would in principle be possible to prohibit the largest vehicles from this route if they had no local businesses to perform.
“We have also established that it would be perfectly possible in practice, and not too expensive, to enforce such a rule – based on the system used by the Mayor of London to operate his ‘low emission zone’.
“Work is now under way to get better estimates of the effect on pollution that we could have by these means, so to document what legal steps would need to be taken.
“I think we are certainly much further advanced than we have been at any time in the last decade.”
THE Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was introduced in 2008 to cut pollution levels in the capital.
It covers most of Greater London and covers heavy goods vehicles as well as buses and motorcaravans but not cars.
Vehicles must meet certain emissions standards or pay a daily charge.
These range from £100 from larger vans to £200 for lorries.
Cameras read number plates of vehicles and check whether vehicles meets the LEZ emissions standards, is exempt, is registered for a discount or if the daily charge has been paid in advance.
Operators of vehicles which haven’t paid in advance can face penalty charges of upto £1,000.
Comments(16)
The Yardie
says...
11:39pm Wed 10 Aug 11
Who would pay for these charges, "simple's" everybody that uses shops and services.
I'm sure the drivers would much prefer to go from A to B on the Motorways, not an easy thing to do when going through Dorset, Devon & Cornwall to name just 3 counties.
Bridders
says...
11:49pm Wed 10 Aug 11
They do not cause a congestion (unless there is a hold up for any other reason).
Like Usual Story above states, this will only move the lorries elsewhere, enforcing them to be driven through other villages. That is until those villagers demand action and adopt the same tactics as Mr Fuller. Where will go then.
Delivery charges and the price of goods will go up to offset the additional fuel costs, which will then be passed onto the consumer. I suppose the Government will get the additional revenue from the charges made, don't they get enough £'s from the motorist as it is.
Perhaps this should also be extended to drivers with caravans, now these DO cause congestion, especially every Friday/Saturday during the summer.
CoogarUK
says...
5:50pm Thu 11 Aug 11
CoogarUK
says...
5:51pm Thu 11 Aug 11
CoogarUK
says...
5:52pm Thu 11 Aug 11
CoogarUK
says...
5:55pm Thu 11 Aug 11
etaoin shrdlu
says...
2:02am Mon 15 Aug 11
marabout
says...
8:04am Mon 15 Aug 11
etaoin shrdlu wrote:Exactly correct. People who lice in Chideock know full well when they purchase that it is a traffic black spot ...and then they ask the rest of society to pay for their mistakes....
People get frustrated at the excessive time it takes to upload so keep prodding the "Submit" button. This is one of the slowest websites in existence and someone tried to blame it on the riots the other day (but who look in th'Echo for news on riots?). And it is as bad at 3am as 3pm. But I digress . . . if people want to live in a dump like Chideock they should expect trucks rumbling through. It's like people buying next to an airport and then complaining. Nice try though: get the taxpayers to subsidise you lifestyle. But you're not an MP so it won't work . . .
Sorry Chideock people... you want to live there so you have to put up with the consequences...
mr commonsense
says...
12:04pm Mon 15 Aug 11
CharlieBarley
says...
12:33pm Mon 15 Aug 11
etaoin shrdlu
says...
8:39pm Mon 15 Aug 11
cj07589
says...
9:22am Tue 16 Aug 11
WibbleFishBananna
says...
12:49pm Tue 16 Aug 11
The road was there before Mr Fuller moved in, so he must have known about it.
It is the only viable route for vehicles to get along the South Coast, unless they go up the M27, along the M4 and down the M5.
Perhaps compulsory purchases should be dolled out and a dual carriageway built from Poole to Exeter.
This is typical of the 'me, me, me' attitude that the MP's have been talking about this week.
etaoin shrdlu
says...
1:36am Wed 17 Aug 11
Wykeite
says...
7:41am Sat 20 Aug 11
Get yourself an allotment Mr Fuller. They’re stress relieving, highly rewarding and you'll have a longer life expectancy; other than that move away from this area. Why should local people and businesses suffer at the hands of your mistake in buying a house on a busy road whilst you throw your toys out of your pram with the sad little campaigns and protests?
Usual Story says...
9:20pm Wed 10 Aug 11
The normal hour-long journey via Chideock, diverted up to Yeovil and back down the A37 becomes half an hour longer and would cost an additional £12 in diesel for every journey. Not exactly environmentally, or financially, friendly.
As long as the likes of Mr Fuller are happy though, that will be fine. (Sorry to the residents living along the A37 for all the extra lorries heading past your door from now on, but frankly the residents of Chideock don't care as long as traffic doesn't go past their homes).