County Council promises action on HGVs after Henley deemed unsafe

Senior officials from Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) have deemed Henley “unsafe” for pedestrians and cyclists due to the large number of HGVs traversing the town. They were invited by Henley HGV Watch who have been campaigning for over 6 years to stop HGVs using Henley as long distance traffic corridor.

Henley HGV Watch members Sir Ian Prosser and David Dickie welcomed Chair & Leader of OCC Tim Bearder, OCC Chief Executive Martin Reeves and Andy Sweeney OCC Team Leader Place and Planning who were joined by Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo, Henley County Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak, Henley Mayor Councillor Ian Reissmann and Geoff Luckett and Julian Brookes from The Henley Society.

Sir Ian Prosser on behalf of Henley HGV Watch thanked everyone for coming.  He said, “I’m incredibly pleased to have such a senior management team come and discuss and see this important issue.”

Tim Bearder announced at the start of the meeting that although the statistics for safety in Henley were not bad, OCC are going to deem it to be “unsafe” for pedestrian and cyclists and are going to look at how they can resolve this.

Sir Ian also raised the question that David Dickie has been asking for the last four years -why OCC’s Strategic Freight Map in the OCC Local Connectivity and Transport Plan had the original sign marking Henley bridge as unsuitable for HGVs been removed.  He has been asking who removed it and why and no one has replied. Tim Bearder replied that this will also be reinstated.

Henley HGV Watch have been campaigning for Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) to stop over 18 tonne HGVs who are not delivering in town or a 5 mile radius and just using Henley as a short-cut. As well as endangering pedestrians and cyclists, the campaign highlighted the HGVs damage to the pavements and roads, cause tailbacks/gridlock when they get stuck, vibration damage to listed buildings and create air pollution above WHO guidelines.  They have been documenting the problem for over 6 years by taking photos of HGVs mounting the pavements and sending these to OCC.  They ask that anyone seeing incidents should send photos to henleyhgvwatch@gmail.com.

In September 2024 OCC carried out a transport study with ANPR to track the HGVs routes.  Henley HGV Watch argued that the statistics and summary had serious flaws in it and did not reflect the data.

Andy Sweeney from OCC confirmed there were few solutions which could be implemented but they each had different timescales.

The solutions include an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), which would fine HGVs that are not making local deliveries, the introduction of a congestion charge for HGVs over 18 tonnes or a low-emission zone.

These options and an analysis report of the September 2024 transport study will now be considered will be presented at the OCC Cabinet meeting on 15 September.  During the meeting it was also confirmed that OCC have secured budget for a survey and implementation of a solution in their financial year 2026-2027.  Members of HGV Watch will attend this meeting along with Henley Mayor, Councillor Ian Reissmann and other possible stakeholders.

David Dickie, “I’m delighted that OCC have accepted a safety problem and they have allocated budget to fix it and we are waiting for solutions.  This is major step forward.  After all these years, I was overcome by the seniority of the people who were all being very constructive.”