The Liberal Democrats have called the proposed “Traffic Management Scheme which supports the proposed oil exploration at Coldharbour “unworkable”.

We believe that Coldharbour Lane, as it is a narrow steep and winding country lane with poor sightlines, is unsuitable for large numbers of HGVs and are concerned about emergency service vehicles being able to access local residents when the road is closed and when slow convoys of HGVs are using the lane. There is also significant potential for the banks along the lane to be damaged by HGVs.

We thus believe that the Traffic Management Scheme has not been properly thought through and welcome the decision taken by the County Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee to defer approval of the plan as this gives everyone a further opportunity to look at and consider whether a workable plan can be drafted.

The County Council will now be looking at the following points:

* whether the car park at Rykas will be available for taking convoys of HGVs en route to the site and if Rykas is not available, what the alternative would be;

* the ability for local residents to communicate when Coldharbour Lane is closed given the lack of mobile phone reception in the area (residents living on Coldharbour Lane are supposed to phone a mobile number when the road is closed to gain permission to leave but their ability to do so is questionable); and

* whether the applicant will be using stones or aluminium trackway sheeting to provide hard standing at the site as if stones are used the number of HGV movements would be considerably more.

We hope that when the County Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee next considers the Traffic Management Scheme that they will reach the conclusion that it is unworkable and that they will reject it.