A PETITION has been launched by West Thurrock residents to remove a HGV weight limit from Devonshire Road in Chafford Hundred.

More than 450 people have signed the petition, spearheaded by residents Keith Nicholls and Sue Domeney, to have the 7.5-tonne limit lifted from the Chafford Hundred road to enable lorries to use it.

Mrs Domeney, 63, has lived in London Road for 40 years and said the noise and number of lorries using the road is getting worse every year.

She said: “I think it is ludicrous that a road like Devonshire Road, which was built as a relief road, is simply being ignored and not used by these heavy goods vehicles.

“We in West Thurrock are always seen as second class citizens and it is high time this changed. My house forever starts shaking from 3am with lorries thundering past and it does not stop and the problem is getting worse.

“Our homes are our homes, the same as the people living in Chafford Hundred, as we want and need a better quality of life. I feel so strongly about this because it has gone on for so long.

“I was surprised with the amount of people that turned out to sign the petition, but I am very pleased.”

The Gazette reported in March how Tory councillors in Chafford Hundred had launched an online petition to keep the present weight limit on Devonshire Road.

Mr Nicholls, 54, of Palmerston Road, Grays, added: “We have had an excellent response from residents and this is all we can do as a community, pull together and try our best to make our lives better.

“Sue and I knocked on doors along London Road and all the surrounding roads, the problem is so much bigger than we first thought. We are going to continue fighting until something is done.”

Labour’s Andy Smith, cabinet member for housing and ward councillor for West Thurrock, added: “I am 100 per cent behind these residents and their campaign backing the removal of the weight limit.

“They have been very active and it is a massive number of people who have signed the petition. I will be handing it in at the next full council meeting.

“If Devonshire Road was to be opened up it would not solve the lorry problems down London Road, but it would probably halve the amount of lorries using it as a cut through. I will be doing as much as I can to help.”