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Councillors: We'll keep fighting over Devonshire Road

8:10am Sunday 5th February 2012 in News

FOUR councillors have vowed to continue fighting against a decision to lift weight restrictions on a Chafford Hundred road.

Garry Hague, Tunde Ojetola, Simon Wootton and Steven Veryard urged members of Thurrock Council’s planning, regeneration and transport committee to hold off lifting the 7.5 tonne weight limit on Devonshire Road until a public consultation was carried out.

But the committee voted against their request, despite the three councillors' claim that removing the weight limit will increase the number of lorries on the road from 120 to up to 752 per day.

Tory Cllr Hague said: “These residents bought their properties with the knowledge a weight restriction was in force to restrict HGV traffic.

“Quite understandably they have very serious concerns over the potential impacts of opening up Devonshire Road to HGVs."

The decision to lift the restriction was approved by leading councillors during a cabinet meeting at the beginning of last November.

The councillors then asked the council to “call-in” the decision and discuss it at last week’s overview and scrutiny committee meeting.

Mr Hague believes Thurrock Council’s cabinet approved the proposal without vital information.

He added: “This is a flawed decision.

“The speed of vehicles on the road has not been considered and there has been no analysis on whether applying a re-surfacing treatment to the road would have any positive impact.

“I do sympathise with the residents of London Road but putting in place a weight limit there and lifting the one in Devonshire Road just shifts the problem to an area where residents have not experienced such volumes of HGV traffic.

“This cannot be the right thing to do and we will continue to work with residents and the Chafford Forum to fight this decision every inch of the way.”

Comments(13)

rocket1 says...
9:41am Sun 5 Feb 12

these are truly despicable men,this is what devonshire road was designed and built for,when the residents bought their homes there was a bogus weight limit on the road that had no legal standing,if they are unhappy they should sue gary hague.

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d_2da_ougle says...
1:21pm Sun 5 Feb 12

i also was under the impression a couple of years back, everyone down london road was moaning about lorrys going past their houses and to be fair to them their windows are so close to london road and is a old road not really ment to hgvs more like horse and kart, what when you enter devonshire road theirs a couple of flats that front onto the road then the houses stop at drake road whats the flipping issue sod all people are affected for this

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A Dermot says...
2:12pm Sun 5 Feb 12

Of course one has to remember that the Chafford Tories made this a campaign issue all those years ago to get one over on the Liberal Democrat Councillor Earnshaw Palmer who was campaigning for weight restrictions.

The Tories made it their campaign and once they controlled the council in 2004 had no option but to put the weight restrictions on the road.

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rocket1 says...
8:21pm Sun 5 Feb 12

garry hagues argument seems to be that chafford hundred residents have ears that are more posh and sensitive than the residents of london road,theres only a handful of people living near devonshire rd compared to the densely populated areas of south stifford and west thurrock.

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RobF4 says...
8:22pm Sun 5 Feb 12

How can you say that they knew when the purchased the houses what they were getting in to. Can you say for certain that the houses have not changed hands and the new owners know nothing of this.

As for the councillors they are doing what they have been elected to do, and look after the communities that have elected them.

If you own a house down his road, and your search says that a restriction is in place, then i suggest you contact the solicitors and sue the council

Just my thoughts.

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Mattster says...
9:46pm Sun 5 Feb 12

RobF4 wrote:
How can you say that they knew when the purchased the houses what they were getting in to. Can you say for certain that the houses have not changed hands and the new owners know nothing of this. As for the councillors they are doing what they have been elected to do, and look after the communities that have elected them. If you own a house down his road, and your search says that a restriction is in place, then i suggest you contact the solicitors and sue the council Just my thoughts.
Well the South Stifford & West Thurrock Masterplan Document clearly identifies the yet to be completed Devonshire Road as a relief road - Still have this if anybodys interested.

Any solicitor worth his salt should have included that as a caveat when performing a search.

Forgetting any politics Devonshire Road is the *much* better option to move HGV traffic to and from the M25 / A13. Its new, wide, virtually zero pedestrian use, light traffic use, no housing on virtually the entire stretch of the road, only 1 footpath - no need for pedestrians to cross it etc...

Anyone who seriously suggests the status quo with HGV's using London Rd is somehow a safer alternative is either lying or retarded. Rob - i can understand councilors speaking up for their wards but to tell absolute lies in the face of all the evidence that has been put on the table is a step to far.

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RobF4 says...
10:08pm Sun 5 Feb 12

Mattster wrote:
RobF4 wrote:
How can you say that they knew when the purchased the houses what they were getting in to. Can you say for certain that the houses have not changed hands and the new owners know nothing of this. As for the councillors they are doing what they have been elected to do, and look after the communities that have elected them. If you own a house down his road, and your search says that a restriction is in place, then i suggest you contact the solicitors and sue the council Just my thoughts.
Well the South Stifford & West Thurrock Masterplan Document clearly identifies the yet to be completed Devonshire Road as a relief road - Still have this if anybodys interested.

Any solicitor worth his salt should have included that as a caveat when performing a search.

Forgetting any politics Devonshire Road is the *much* better option to move HGV traffic to and from the M25 / A13. Its new, wide, virtually zero pedestrian use, light traffic use, no housing on virtually the entire stretch of the road, only 1 footpath - no need for pedestrians to cross it etc...

Anyone who seriously suggests the status quo with HGV's using London Rd is somehow a safer alternative is either lying or retarded. Rob - i can understand councilors speaking up for their wards but to tell absolute lies in the face of all the evidence that has been put on the table is a step to far.
Matt thanks for the update and clarification.

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Dave_ says...
12:25pm Mon 6 Feb 12

Devonshire Road, does not now, never has and never will look like a road through a housing estate. Mostly as apart from a couple of hundred yards there are no houses, flats etc.
It is an access road, linking two two roads to avoid travelling through a town centre.
I bet somewhere in the past it was called something like Hogg Lane - London Road relief road and designed to take vehicles over 7½ tons.
With respect to Chafford Hundred, this really exposes the problem with piecemeal developments. I don't feel that at any point there has been "joined up thinking" involved in the building of Chafford Hundred and it is a hotch potch of small developments, with no one overseeing the overall effect.

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improving road safety says...
10:22pm Mon 6 Feb 12

I agree with Rocket1, three wise men! I don’t think so, how many extra HGV’s! I am sick of the three unwise men’s weak excuses, why don’t the three unwise men come clean, it’s really about house prices!! The unwise men have not once mentioned improving Thurrock’s poor road safety, if they did they would have to support the residents of london road, in a nut shell the councillors on Chafford Hundred are acting like unprofessional children.

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improving road safety says...
10:29pm Mon 6 Feb 12

A new roundabout is also required at the junction of Drake road and Devonshire road, this urgently road safety improvement has never been suggested by the three Chafford Hundred unwise men, WHY?

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improving road safety says...
10:32pm Mon 6 Feb 12

To all of Thurrock Councillors who have voted to life the 7.5 weight that was wrongfully imposed on Devonshire road, Thank you.

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Thurrockbob says...
3:46am Tue 7 Feb 12

This is absolutely diabolical, Devonshire road was built as a relief for London Rd to take the traffic away from there. There should be a petition to get Devonshire road used correctly.

Oh and a roundabout at the junction of Drake/Devonshire! ...... Why?

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Bernard 87 says...
9:29am Fri 10 Feb 12

One (slightly costly) solution would be to somehow divert Devonshire Road away from the houses near Sachfield drive (so in effect create a small private road to the estate) which would allow lorries to go along the newly diverted road without causing too much disruption to those residents whose houses are close to the road. You could put in a 20mph speed limit at this point so as lorries go past this point they will have to slow down and create a new roundabout at the junction with Drake Road.

I dont know whether this plan would work as I'm sure space is tight at that point on Devonshire Road and the land that you would have to eat into to divert the road probably belongs to the EWT.

Another option would be to create a new road, by joining up the various roads that run through all the factories and joining this road up with the West Thurrock Way therefore bypassing South Stifford in the opposite direction and going past no houses at all. That way you could start tidying up London Road and making it a smart approach into Grays.

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