Bubwith residents organise petition against Sutton on Derwent weight limit

Residents of Bubwith have decided to take action by raising a 580 name petition in support of the lifting of the 7.5 tonne weight limit through Sutton on Derwent and Elvington in place since the Sutton on Derwent Bridge on the B1228 was repaired this past year.

Prior to the weight limit being imposed the HGV movements from Breighton Airfield Industrial Estate went either North through Sutton on Derwent or either west through Bubwith or east through Foggathorpe and Holme on Spalding Moor. This meant that the HGV movements were somewhat shared between all the communities - alas since the weight limit the village of Bubwith particularly, has borne the brunt of these lorry movements.

The petition has been organised by Bubwith residents Pauline Witt and Caroline Taylor, who presented it to fellow Howdenshire ward councillor Nick Evans and I handed it to the ERYC Service Manager Paula Danby on their behalf.

Bubwith Parish Council have also been very proactive in pushing the case forward, being insistent that the East Riding of Yorkshire Council assess both the bridge on the A163 and the Sutton Bridge, as both bridges are about the same age and both awkward to cross, and subject to traffic light controls to ensure single file traffic. The result is that both bridges are deemed capable of taking HGVs, the signs indicating a weak bridge have been removed from the Highfields crossroads in Bubwith, but the bridge does have a 7.5 tonne environment weight limit signed upon it.

Bubwith Parish Council Clerk Steve Young says, “Bubwith Parish residents are fed up with taking more than its share of HGVs because of the weight limit, and that Ellerton & Aughton Parish Council, Foggathorpe Parish Council and Holme on Spalding Moor Parish Council are all very strongly opposed to the weight limit”.

In an email to Bubwith Parish Council Paula Danby states, “A report is to be presented to the councils Environment and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny sub Committee on the 20th July 2011. This meeting is held at County hall and usually starts at 10am. The public are allowed to attend the meeting and the report is made public one week prior to the meeting”.

“There have been a large number of responses both in favour of keeping the weight limit and also asking for its removal. The views of the parish councils are being taken into consideration and will be included within the report”.

I certainly do not support this ill thought out experiment, and would like to see it removed as soon as possible and the HGV movements shared between all the communities rather than one or two having to cope with the whole lot.

To re-route HGVs through rural villages such as Bubwith, Holme on Spalding Moor, Foggathorpe and Harlthorpe not only passes the problem from one community onto others, but also has a detrimental effect on both the businesses that have to foot the extra fuel costs and increased travelling times, and the wider community with the increased emissions associated with lorries travelling the extra distances. I do not think this fits with the ERYC policy of reducing emissions through reduced journeys”.