Help with lorries ban

A STRUCTURAL engineer and an air quality consultant will be hired to help the campaign to stop heavy goods vehicles using Henley as a shortcut.

The town council has agreed to set aside up to £2,689 for the experts to establish whether or not the town can cope with the number of heavy lorries using Henley Bridge.

Campaigners have spent years calling for a 7.5-tonne weight restriction to be placed on the bridge to prevent through traffic but Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, is pursuing an 18-tonne limit for the wider area.

The county council has appointed management consultants Atkins to carry out a study and make recommendations.

The town council has already agreed to spend about £2,000 on its own consultants but at a Tuesday’s planning committee meeting it was agreed to increase the amount.

Councillor Laurence Plant said: “It’s such an important issue for most of the residents in town. Definitely this is something we need to do our best on.”

Councillor Will Hamilton said that it should be the county council’s responsibility to carry out a traffic study and advised using its contractors to ensure the evidence would be accepted.

Mayor Michelle Thomas replied: “The issue we have is that the county council have appointed ones that will give them what they want to hear.”