Agenda item

Reports and appendices attached.

In accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rule 9, a Councillor Call for Action was received from Councillor Durant on 10 August 2020.

The report before Members detailed a proposal following a request from Ward Councillors to consider an appropriate solution to the high volume of complaints being received regarding the speed and frequency of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV’s) travelling through Rainham Village (Upminster Road South and Wennington Road.) It is understood the majority of these nuisance vehicles are traveling to and from the industrial estates on Ferry Lane and Lamson Road.

There was already a maximum weight limit of 7.5t zone currently present on these problem roads (and almost all roads in Rainham to the south west of New Road/A1306) but this zone did not extend to Lamson Road and Ferry Lane.

The existing weight limit zone restricted HGV’s from using these roads and due to alternative routes to Ferry Lane and Lamson Road being available (A13 and New Road) there is no ‘access exemption’ to vehicles travelling to these industrial estates.

However with no enforcement of the restrictions currently taking place, this has not deterred all HGV drivers from using these routes when travelling to or from the industrial estates on Ferry Lane and Lamson Road.

To resolve the issues and achieve an acceptable level of compliance of the existing restrictions, a high level of enforcement would be required. For this reason it was recommended that the use of static CCTV cameras to enforce the existing weight limit restrictions in Rainham and Wennington is progressed and funding sought.

Enforcement via camera would see CCTV cameras installed on existing lamp columns (subject to structural testing) at a particular location/s which would capture the vehicle registrations of each vehicle entering or exiting the restricted zone. This data would be processed and confirmation of the weight of each vehicle would be requested from the DVLA. If a vehicle was found to exceed the weight limit, a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) would be issued.

An ideal location for the camera/s to be located had previously been identified as Bridge Road near to the junction with Viking Way and Lamson Road. Cameras at this location would be best placed to capture details of vehicles entering/exiting the zone which have travelled to or from the industrial estates on Ferry Lane and Lamson Road.

Appendices to the report showed existing weight restriction and compliant routes to industrial estates and a visual guide to enforcement.

At this point Councillor Durant confirmed by phone that he was having some technical difficulties and although he could hear the meeting he was unable to be heard.

Councillor Durant had confirmed that he was happy for the Sub-Committee to debate the item and reach a decision.

In response to a question about the future use of the A1306 becoming a boulevard in the future, officers confirmed that the vehicles would not be able to use that route once the Beam Parkway scheme was implemented then that may be the case but as that development was in its infancy then the traffic measure would be introduced under an experimental traffic order that would last for eighteen months.

In response to a question relating to the vehicle usage through Rainham Village, officers confirmed that the usage was not so much deliveries but vehicles commuting through the village using it as a short cut on to the  A1306

Officers undertook to investigate whether the restrictions on the temporary order could be time related, perhaps 8am to 6pm.

The Sub-Committee considered the report and agreed that the actions currently being taken by officers to address the issue were appropriate and made no further recommendations to the service.