THE county councillors for both Malton and Norton have condemned the HGV ban as a “failed experiment”.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s (NYCC) Thirsk and Malton Constituency Committee, last Wednesday, heard concerns had been raised about the detrimental impact the ban on lorries using the level crossing was having on other areas of the town and surrounding villages.

The experimental 18-month HGV ban on vehicles of more than 7.5 tonnes crossing the level crossing was introduced by NYCC in February last year to reduce the number of lorries travelling through Malton’s Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

Members of the committee were told concerns had been raised about the impact on properties in Highfield Road, in Malton, which lorries were using to access the A64, along with pollution, noise and the speed of the vehicles.

Similar views had been expressed by residents living in surrounding villages, including Settrington and Scagglethorpe.

Malton County Cllr Lindsay Burr said: “The HGV ban is not working in its current form and it is having a detrimental affect on other parts of town, particularly Highfield Road where there are two primary schools.

“I have stood with parents and literally, the HGV’s wing mirrors are on the pavement where the children are and it’s just not safe, so we have to really think about how we are going to manage this if the committee decides to carry on with the HGV ban.”

Norton County Cllr Keane Duncan said he felt the ban had made little difference to the air quality at Malton’s Butcher Corner.

He said: “I am very concerned about this HGV ban. I don’t think it’s achieved what it intended to achieve on air quality and not only that it’s had a massive knock-on effect, not only on Highfield Road, but in villages in a 10-mile radius around the town.”

Cllr Duncan said: “I think we can put in measures to push traffic along the roads that we would like them to, but that won’t solve the fundamental issue that there is no restriction on HGVs travelling through Butcher Corner because there is no other way in which they can travel around Malton and Norton given the fact we haven’t got this perfect bypass with access roads around the town.”

He added: “This HGV ban should come to an end. It’s been a failed experiment and it’s had quite monumental consequences.”

The meeting was told a decision would have to be taken over whether to continue the HGV ban before the end of the 18-month trial in August and a three-week public consultation exercise would begin on May 3.