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No go for Abridge lorry plan
LORRIES making Abridge residents lives miserable cannot be rerouted because of Highways Agency bureaucracy, district council leader John Knapman says.
Mr Knapman blamed the agency for blocking a "sensible solution" to the problem of lorries, many carrying soil to the under-construction Parsonage Farm golf course development off Abridge Road, Theydon Bois, trundling through the village sometimes 80 times in an hour.
Mr Knapman said: "What I suggested was that the lorries should exit directly, at least between 6am and 9am, from the M11 on to the slipway joining with Coopersale Lane.
"They could access the Parsonage golf development that way, bypassing Abridge and Chigwell completely, to make residents lives a little easier. The Highways Agency has just refused.
"What they're now saying is that even if Essex Police were okay about it, and I had been led to believe at the top levels they were, they feel there would be safety issues allowing lorries to use that access road. They tell me it would require significant engineering works to allow them to do so. Now I am no expert, but I'm struggling to see how that it's the case.
"To be honest I'm reaching the end of my tether with the Highways Agency on this one - they seem to be putting so many hurdles in the way of what seemed a sensible solution."
A Highways Agency spokesman said: "The lane in question, Spur Lane, is not an off-slip road, but leads directly to one of the Highways Agency's depots. Private vehicles are not allowed to use this road. The police have also advised that we cannot allow contractors' vehicles to use Spur Lane for access between Coopersale Lane and the M11 for safety reasons."
Abridge resident Sam Pickering said: "There are lorries going past all the time. It's terrible. Everyone tells us they're looking for a solution but no one seems able to find one."
Mrs Pickering suggested that if the "ideal " of lorries using Spur Lane was not possible, a weight restriction should be imposed on the Abridge bridge to limit the size of lorries accessing the area.Mr Knapman said he was exploring whether an agreement might be reached with developer UK Golf and Leisure to prevent lorry movements before 7.30am.
Mr Knapman has now raised the issue with Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing and Brentwood and Ongar MP Eric Pickles.
He said: "I've asked them to use their influence to obtain a more positive response from the Highways Agency in order to help resolve the issue. If they can't achieve anything it means the entire system from local government up to parliament has managed to fail the people of Theydon Bois and Abridge, a situation I not only regret but find intensely annoying."
9:31am Thursday 4th August 2005
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