The Department for Transport (DfT) now allows local authorities outside of London to carry out moving traffic enforcement under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Surrey County Council intend to carry out camera enforcement of the HGV weight restrictions in Odiham Road, Upper Hale Road, Folly Hill and Castle Street in Farnham. We are starting a six-week consultation from November 2023 to ask for your opinion about these proposals.
Enforcement of the HGV weight restrictions at these locations will help us manage traffic on the highway network and prevent unauthorised vehicles from using these routes.
Page contents
- Background and legislation
- What are moving traffic restrictions and how are they currently enforced
- Why we want to enforce these HGV weight restrictions in Surrey
- The proposed locations
- Why we selected these locations
- What this means for you
- Have your say
Background and Legislation
In 2022, the Department for Transport designated the county of Surrey as a civil enforcement area for moving traffic contraventions.
This means traffic enforcement cameras can be used to enforce a variety of highway restrictions on Surrey roads to help improve safety and reduce congestion.
What are moving traffic restrictions and how are they enforced
Moving traffic restrictions are designated by traffic signs and road markings, such as driving through a HGV weight restriction, making banned turns, stopping in yellow box junctions, driving the wrong way down one-way streets and driving in recognised cycle lanes.
Please do look at the list of the traffic signs which are subject to civil enforcement (PDF).
Currently, we are only looking to carry out camera enforcement against HGV weight restriction contraventions (therefore deter unauthorised vehicles from driving through the restricted routes) at four locations, at Odiham Road, Upper Hale Road, Folly Hill and Castle Street, Farnham.
Why we want to enforce these HGV weight restrictions in Surrey
Specifically, traffic enforcement cameras provide an option to make travel and transportation schemes more effective and could be a key tool in helping deliver transportation and environmental objectives to reduce congestion and improve facilities for buses, cycles and pedestrians, particularly vulnerable road users.
We have carried out an HGV watch scheme in Farnham, where volunteers monitored HGV traffic in areas where restrictions are in place. They uploaded photographs of vehicles considered to be in contravention of the restriction to the SCC website where our HGV Watch Co-ordinator reviewed the information and contacted the HGV owner/operator with a 'warning letter'. The results over a nine-month period showed that the number of offences were not reducing and were consistently high. With the support of an enforcement camera, we should see a significant reduction in the number of contravening HGV's and improve compliance.
Please take a look at our HGV Watch page.
The proposed locations
We are proposing to enforce around the following roads Upper Hale Road (Google Maps), Odiham Road (Google Maps) and Castle Street (Google Maps).
Why we selected these locations
These locations were chosen for camera enforcement because vehicles regularly drive through the HGV weight restrictions when they should not, in order to avoid the traffic queues and alternate routes to travel around Farnham.
What this means for you
We are not proposing to add any additional moving traffic restrictions to those that are already in place, and drivers that continue to comply with the HGV restrictions at each location will not be at risk of enforcement action.
The DfT stipulate that warning notices must be sent to motorists who commit an offence for the first time, for a period of six months from the installation of a camera. Subsequent offences by the same vehicle/keeper would receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), which is to be set at £70 (reduced to £35 if paid early).
Have your say
We would like to hear your views about the proposed traffic camera enforcement for the HGV weight restrictions on Odiham Road, Upper Hale Road, Folly Hill and Castle Street, Farnham in case there is anything unforeseen that would not make these suitable locations for camera enforcement. The consultation will run from Friday 3 November 2023 to Friday 15 December 2023 and can be found using the link below.
