Around 70 angry residents attended a packed meeting at the Tesco meeting room in Lichfield on Tuesday evening (14th April) and demanded immediate and longer term solutions to heavy trucks using Birmingham Road and Trent Valley Road in Lichfield as a rat run. Richard Rayson of the Staffordshire County Council Highways Department, a representative of Staffordshire Police, Cllr Terry Finn and Michael Fabricant heard a presentation from local resident Roy Appleby who had organised the event. This was followed by questions mainly directed at Richard Rayson.

Commenting after, Michael Fabricant said: “Residents are extremely angry that when there are roadworks on the A38 and A5, heavy goods vehicles do not follow the diversion signs, but instead cut through the centre of Lichfield. It is making life a living hell and damaging buildings and the road surface.

“The County Council must recognise that diversion signs do not deter many HGV drivers from taking a short cut through Lichfield. I told the County official, Richard Rayson, with the vocal support of the meeting and with the support of Cllr Finn that the only solution is temporary weight restriction when there are roadworks and a permanent weight restriction once a study currently being conducted by the County is concluded. Unlike diversions, weight restrictions are obeyed by most truck drivers.

“I asked Richard Rayson to keep me fully informed of developments and reminded him that the Government has fully empowered local County councils to impose weight restrictions where they are suitable. With the by-passes now in place around Lichfield and a further southern by-pass to follow, there is now no excuse not to impose weight limits in central Lichfield”.

Weight limits do not affect vehicles making local deliveries or emergency access and this was accepted by the meeting.