Labour given 24 hours to scrap access restrictions on Lendal Bodge

The Council’s Labour leadership have been given 24 hours in which to withdraw the traffic access restrictions on Lendal Bridge

If they fail to do so, the government will be asked to intervene and hold a public Inquiry into the fiasco.

Labour have always been at pains to claim that the funding for the scheme had come from central government, although in reality the Council could have chosen to use the money on other projects aimed at improving public transport.

Now, with the prospect of the government money going down the drain, plus the possibility of £2 million in fine income having to be reimbursed, the Labour leadership have been told to bring the sorry saga to an end.

Council reports (see right) reveal that doubts about the use of ANPR cameras had been raised within the Council over 12 months ago.

Local government Minister Eric Pickles has been critical of Councils that misuse their powers and particularly those who exploit motorists vulnerabilities.

Meanwhile the Council has been asked to urgently clarify how many motorists on both Coppergate and Lendal Bridge have been issued with PCNs each week since 28^th February (when the bridge trial was supposed to end).

A Council statement earlier today suggested that a smaller proportion of drivers had been issued with FPNs but failed to say who made the decision and who decides who should and who should not be fined

Latest footfall figures released

606,202 movements were recorded by the Parliament Street footfall cameras during March 2014.

This represented an increase on the 531,421 recorded 12 months earlier although it was still down on the 2012 total of 666,249.

The full figures can be downloaded by clicking here

The numbersare influenced by weather conditions and the general economic situation, so most retailers will be focusing on the August to December period when shopper numbers are usually at their highest.

NB. One retailer recently said that sales figures were still 10% down using a year on year comparison.

Now its officially Lendal Bodge!

The Council have now said that they are no longer issuing fines to motorists misusing the access restrictions on both Lendal bridge and Coppergate.

As we predicated last week, the Council would have been unable to sustain any PCN notices following the decision of the Traffic Adjudicator that ANPR enforcement was unlawful.

Having maintained for nearly a week that they were “unable to say” whether the cameras had been switched off (as they should have been on Lendal bridge at the end of the trial period on 28th February), the Council has confirmed that no fine notices are being issued.

Apparently the cameras are still recording.

If the Council hopes to use this information, then legally they only have 28 days in which to issue the PCN – much less than the period likely to be necessary for them to progress an “appeal” against the Traffic Adjudicators ruling.

So big brother is watching and waiting

and the Council’s war against its own citizens is stepped up.

The Council statement reads

During the trial 95 per cent of drivers have adhered to the restrictions in place on Lendal bridge and the number of vehicles breaching the restriction had reached a peaked and started to decline. We’ve always said the trial was not to generate revenue, but to reduce traffic going over the bridge and through the city centre, as part of a long-term vision to create an even more attractive and thriving city centre for everyone.

As such, once the six month data collection had been completed, the council reviewed and reduced the levels of enforcement, at its discretion, during the restricted hours. Since this point, not every private vehicle breaching the restrictions has received a PCN. This is in line with similar schemes around the country.

“Following legal advice on the trial, restrictions will remain in place and recordings will be taken of any breaches of the restrictions along both Lendal Bridge and Coppergate.

Fines will not be issued upon these recordings until further legal process.

Drivers are urged to continue to adhere to the restrictions in place.”