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This week, Cumbria County Council’s Local Committee for Allerdale heard from Tony McCormick, a member of Cumbria Logistics Sector Group and 2 other local hauliers, about possible alternatives to an HGV ban in Wigton.

Mr McCormick and colleagues have no objections to the ban however did suggest that before a ban is considered then improvements to the B5305 is necessary and a Wigton by-pass provided.  Hauliers themselves do not like travelling through Wigton but they feel that the alternative of going via Thursby would be too expensive and they believe that it could cost jobs.

County Councillor Barbara Cannon, Chair of the Local Committee says

“There is a great deal of concern about traffic congestion and pedestrian safety due to HGV’s travelling through the middle of Wigton.  Only last month this Committee was presented with a petition from a representative of Wigton Town Council on behalf of the residents in Wigton expressing their concerns about HGV’s travelling through the town centre.  They were told that Committee had already agreed, some months ago, to the principle of a HGV ban through Wigton, and Local Committee had tried for some time to get improvements done on the B5305.  However, the Local Committee cannot progress schemes which exceed £30k directly. Such bids have to be made through the County’s Local Transport Plan and N.W. regional bidding system.  This has been done, in respect of both the Wigton Town Centre HGV ban proposal, the Wigton Relief Rd proposal, and the B5305 improvements at Doctor’s Brow, Sedbergham. 

Proper financial support is critical with schemes like these. The Wigton HGV ban proposal, for instance, could be taken forward for as little as £8-10,000, on an experimental basis. However that would not include all the side streets and minor roads. Such a scheme could cause big difficulties for other local residents. To achieve a full scheme costing in the region of £45,000 we would need significant partner funding, through such as the Market Towns Initiative, to get it below the £30,000 threshold. Without this extra support the scheme might stay on the County List, but waiting for a long time.

Whilst our Local Committee has general support for all these schemes, our capital highways investment first priority remains the Workington Southern Link Road. This means that the Wigton Relief Road could take a long time to come to fruition.”