Settle's bid for HGV study amid tourism fears (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Settle's bid for HGV study amid tourism fears

6:30pm Monday 8th February 2010

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COUNCILLORS in a Dales town have backed calls for a study to establish whether heavy goods traffic is driving away visitors.

Members of Settle Town Council agreed to support a bid by Settle and District Chamber of Trade for an independent study into the attitude of tourists to the ‘high volume’ of HGVs being driven through the town.

The chamber claims without action against heavy lorries the town would ‘continue on an inexorable path or decline’.

In a letter to the town council, Colin Clifford, representing the chamber, said: “The principal objective of the chamber of trade is the economic regeneration of Settle and the surrounding district which, if achieved, will make Settle district a better place to live, work and visit for everyone.”

Mr Clifford said the chamber’s main tourism objective was to make Settle an attractive ‘honey pot’ town to take advantage of its position as a gateway to both the Dales and the Forest of Bowland.

“We believe the greatest obstacle to the achievement of this objective is the high number of HGVs that travel daily through the centre of Settle to and from the quarries in Upper Ribblesdale – 425 lorry movements per day.

“We have over 70 members who we speak to on a regular basis to gain an understanding of their concerns. The quarry lorries are invariably raised as the number one issue.”

Coun David Heather said: “We have to do this to see if there is some sort of impact and whether there is anything that can be done to sort it out.”

Coun Ann Ambrose added: “This has rumbled on for years. An independent study might show that there is no impact on the town and we should accept the findings.”

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