HGV ban decision 'unsafe', says mayor

23 January 2007

Cambridge Mayor Rob Dryden today branded a decision to reject his plea for a ban on heavy lorries using Cherry Hinton's narrow Lime Kiln Hill as "unsafe".

"Do we have to wait for someone to be killed before action is taken on this danger road?" he asked. "The road's unsafe."

Cllr Dryden, Labour councillor for the area, was commenting after the Cambridge joint city-county traffic management committee yesterday (Mon, Jan 22) turned down his petition calling for the ban, a 30mph speed restriction and traffic calming measures.

The petition, drawn up jointly with Conservative South Cambridgeshire District Council member Charlie Nightingale, got more than 300 signatures.

Cllr Dryden said an officer report given to the Liberal Democrat-controlled committee said there had not been enough accidents on the road to warrant restrictions. 'But I believe, as a former health and safety officer, in preventing accidents rather than waiting for them to happen."

The traffic problem on the road had been an issue for a long time not only for people in the area, but from wider afield.

"There have been a lot of accidents lately, but some are not reported. It will only be a matter of time before someone is killed."

At places, Lime Kiln Hill had sheer drops on both sides and the City Council had even turned down an offer by the local school of land to extend the nature reserve for fear that the road would collapse, he added.

Cllr Kevin Blencowe, a Labour member of the committee, said today: "The issue of highway safety on this road has been raised by responsible councillors for several years. It's obvious that it needs to be tackled and tackled now rather than later."

He said a highway study showing that 30 HGVs out of 5,000 vehicles used the road over a 12-hour period indicated that it would be more logical for the adjoining Queen Edith's Way to be used.

He described an officers' offer of investigations of the "accident cluster" at the hill crest when time and money were available as "a sop".