Councillors call for ban on HGVs using car sat navs

COUNCILLORS have written to a senior Westminster figure in an attempt to stop HGVs using satellite navigation systems intended for smaller vehicles on the streets of Saddleworth.

On several occasions, lorries and good vehicles have either became stuck on winding roads or ended up damaging village centres, like an incident in Dobcross when a memorial was damaged.

Now after also seeing and hearing of a number of near misses, representatives for the area have had enough and have written to Baroness Vere to try and get the navigation systems that guide vehicles unsuitable to the narrow roads outlawed.

The seven Conservative Party members of Saddleworth Parish Council have put their name to the letter to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.

They wrote: “We are writing to ask whether the Government could consider outlawing the use of regular automobile Satellite Navigation systems by Heavy Goods Vehicles.

“As you may already be aware, Saddleworth is composed of a collective of villages – all belonging to the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, but currently administered by the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

“These villages have largely retained their traditional character and much of the modern road network in Saddleworth does not and cannot accommodate HGVs.”The Dobcross incident last September was highlighted as the most obvious example of why action is needed.

But Councillors Luke Lancaster, Max Woodvine, Robert Knotts, Pam Byrne, Graham Sheldon, Jamie Curley and John Hudson feel that only illustrated a wider problem.

They added: “Whilst this example is the starkestrecent demonstration of the problems HGVs can and do pose, more broadly it is not uncommon across our villages for roads to be congested or closed off as a result of HGVs using them improperly and for HGVs to be involved in more minor collisions with local infrastructure.

“Signage warning of narrow roads or low bridges does perform an important role in discouraging HGVs from taking unsuitable routes.

“However, in order to better address this problem and to move away from a reliance on HGV motorists reading and acting in conjunction with signage, we believe that making illegal the use of automobile Satellite Navigation systems by HGVs would be an effective intervention, welcomed by the vast majority of those who belong to semi-rural and rural communities across our country.

“These systems are not adequately equipped to inform HGV motorists and by their nature are designed to advise vehicles of a far less considerable weight and size.”

Satellite navigation systems are not the only issue causing issues on Saddleworth’s roads – and unused bus stops will be removed from Diggle.

Parish councillors made representations for the removal of redundant bus stops and shelters on Sam Road, Station Road and Lee Side, raising the problem of anti-social behaviour.

Now a route development officer at Transport for Greater Manchester has reported they will be arranging for their removal, pointing out the ‘fact that services have not used the bus stops for over three years’.

But the fact no new services are going to be introduced irked Dobcross and Diggle representative Cllr Woodvine.

He said: “While I’m glad that these unsightly stops and shelters are going to be removed it’s a shame that no services are going to be introduced.

“Like Saddleworth at large, Diggle is underserved by public transport and only an hourly bus service passes through the village.”