Burford Town Council explains the current position
The ongoing consequence of the introduction of a weight limit in July 2020 in Burford was that BTC had to monitor the HGVs that breached the weight limit, send warning letters to the owners and, for repeat offenders, collect the evidence for OCC to take the drivers to court. The Traffic Order said that HGVs could deliver to addresses in the town but a permit system had to be put in place for those that wished to drive through. BTC took responsibility for a limited permit scheme for businesses that had a local base and delivered locally. We had to to install equipment to record HGV number plates 24/7 and employ someone to administer the scheme. All this has been done.
Permits were issued for individual HGVs from businesses which had an operational base within a 4.8 mile radius of Burford called the “Red Zone”. These permits allow delivery within the Red Zone but not outside. A total of 122 HGV permits have been issued by BTC to 16 businesses. They can be seen on their HGV windscreens.
Apart from goods vehicles allowed by the Traffic Order, such as WODC rubbish wagons, tractors and fire engines, on an average weekday in January there were 45 HGVs over 7.5 tonnes Maximum Gross Weight on Burford High Street. Of these 24 had permits, six were delivering to addresses in Burford and 15 were breaching the weight limit. 73% of the offenders were given a formal written warning (very few offend twice), 21% of the offending owners could not be identified (either due to problems with the DVLA or insufficient light to see the number plate both of which issues are being addressed) and 6% were foreign (which unfortunately neither BTC nor OCC can do anything about even with Brexit!). Incidentally buses and coaches do not carry ‘goods’ but carry ‘people’ and are not covered by the weight limit.
The weight limit has been an outstanding success for Burford, as well as Shipton Under Wychwood, Chipping Norton and South Newington all of whom contributed to the sign funding. The next challenge is when OCC has to decide whether or not to make the experimental Traffic Order permanent when it runs out in February 2022.
Burford Town Council