REPORT DENIES HGVs CUT THROUGH TOWN

CAMPAIGNERS are furious after a new report has found that the majority of heavy goods vehicles were not using Henley as a short cut.

Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, carried out a study over two days in September where it collected data using 35 automatic number plate recognition cameras.

The HGV Analysis Report, which has been leaked to the Henley Standard, found that while most were more than 18 tonnes, they were local to the area.

As a result, the council officer which put together the report stopped short of recommending an environmental weight limit.

It said the introduction of this restriction risks displacing HGV traffic to other areas, “potentially creating new issues elsewhere”.

But they outlined a number of recommendations, including exploring the possibility of pedestrianising areas of the town and installing new signage.

The survey was carried out between Thursday, September 25 and Sunday 26 last year and cameras were installed in High Wycombe, Abingdon, Didcot, Maidenhead and Reading.

In Henley, cameras were installed in Fair Mile, Greys Road, Gravel Hill, A4155 South and North, A4130 Remenham Hill, the A321 and in Nettlebed.

The report found a total of 61.7 per cent of all vehicles captured were 18 tonnes or more and that very few HGVs from the east are using Henley as a through-route to reach Didcot or Oxford.

Similarly, it found that only a small fraction of westbound HGVs, from Oxford and Didcot, use Henley as a non-stopping route to the east, towards the A404, Maidenhead and Slough.

It concluded that the majority of the HGVs are travelling on the advisory routes for all weight groups and the majority of the HGVs captured at Henley are “local” as they are stopping within a five-mile radius of the town.

It found that 80 per cent of 3.5 to 7.5 tonne HGVs are making stops, 60 per cent of 7.5 to 18 tonnes are making stops and 74 per cent of more than 18 tonnes are making stops.

The cameras in and around Henley that picked up the highest number of vehicles were in Fair Mile and Nettlebed.

The raw data provided the time stamp for the capture, direction of travel as well as technical details of each vehicle recorded, including vehicle type, fuel type, European emission standards and weight.

Campaigners, who have been calling for a weight limit for Henley, have disputed the findings, saying they have a large body of photographic evidence to prove HGVs are using Henley as a short cut.

They have also criticised the report due to its short collection period and claim that some of the cameras used to collect the data were not working.

Town and county councillor Stefan Gawrysiak said: “I want independent verification of this data as so many cameras weren’t working. Twenty-five per cent of HGVs coming into the study area were lost.”

Amanda Chumas, of Henley HGV Watch, said: “Despite submitting four and a half years of real-time photographic evidence, our concerns have been dismissed and minimized, with the sole focus seemingly placed on ANPR data.”

A spokesman for the county council said that as the report had not been published yet it would not comment.