Procedure for Traffic Regulation Orders
From GPG
The following notes are intended as a guide for PROW practitioners who wish to have a better understanding of the procedures likely to be followed by a traffic management engineer when processing a TRO. There will be variations from authority to authority.
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Initiation
Typically requests for TRO may come from the Police, Parish/Town Councils, individuals of organisations, or following an accident investigation/prevention report, or a highway engineers observations.
In the case of TRO requests for the PROW network or the minor road network it is likely that the matter will be raised, via the PROW officer, by landowners, local residents, user groups, conservation groups, Parish/Town Councils or countryside management officer.
Often requests will arise following a high profile event, e.g. TRF group rally, or a public inquiry to upgrade a route to byway status. Such events are likely to have heightened people's sensitivity to the issues involved and this makes it particularly important that the PROW staff involved are careful not to be rushed into making hasty decisions. It is important that the PROW staff consider the actual circumstances of the case, take into account all relevant factors (see general advice) and make a realistic assessment of the future impact of any decision.
When forwarding a request to the traffic management engineer it will be helpful to include a brief outline of the PROW officer's assessment of the case. This should attempt to provide an objective view of the issues involved together with a view of the reasonableness of the request from a PROW perspective. Any special factors which may not be obvious to a non-PROW practitioner should also be highlighted.
Action by Traffic Management Engineer
1. Assessment
The engineer will form a view as to whether the request meets the requirements of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and seems reasonable.
The request is discussed with the police and with the relevant District Council Engineer (who may refer the matter to his relevant committee or elected member). The discussion may take place during a district engineers liaison meeting.
The request is discussed with any special interest organisations or representatives. (The PROW officer may need to advise the traffic engineer in this respect).
If the request is supported by the police and District Engineer then approval to commence formal procedures must be obtained from Chief Officer, Cabinet member or committee of the authority.
2. Authorisation
Depending upon the structure of the authority authorisation to make a TRO must be obtained from either a Highways Committee or an elected cabinet member for the service, or from a Chief Officer who has delegated powers.
A report is presented to the appropriate committee or person, describing the proposal and including the statement of reasons.
At this stage the report is based purely on the results of the initial discussions and professional assessments.
At the same time as authorisation to make the TRO is being sought it is likely that formal consultation on the proposal will be started. This is to keep the overall time for the process to a minimum.
3. Consultation
The formal consultation will usually take the form of a letter, with a plan showing the proposal, and a statement of reasons for making the TRO.
Consultation letters will be sent to the Police, District Council and Parish Council and to various other organisations depending uponthe nature of the proposal and affected route.
Other consultees may include:
- The Utility Companies
- The AA or RAC
- Freight Haulage Association
- User organisations
Usually about three or four weeks is allowed for a response.
The consultation procedure may be carried out by more than one department of the authority with, typically, the highways department consulting with Police and District/Parish Councils and the legal department consulting other organisations.
With consultations under way, and assuming authority has been given by the appropriate person or committee, then press advertisements and site notices are prepared.
4. Advertisement
An advertisement must be placed in a local paper and notices placed on site, giving details of the proposal and allowing a minimum period of three weeks for representation or objections.
The advertisement and notice must give brief details of the proposal and indicate where and when the proposed order, plan and statement of reasons can be inspected by the public.
The placing of the newspaper advertisement will usually be done by staff in the legal/administrative/resources department. The posting of site notices will usually be carried out by the Area/Divisional Engineers staff, though in the case of a remote rural location the PROW officer may consider it more appropriate for a member of his team to undertake the task. If this is the case this should be clearly arranged with the traffic management engineer.
For site notices a certificate of posting is required.
5. Objections
Objection or representations may be received as a result of the formal consultation or the placing of notices and advertisement. Generally they will be dealt with as follows.
The traffic management engineer should consider the objection/representation and then attempt to discuss with the objector. In the case of TROs on PROWs it is sensible to involve the PROW officer in these discussions.
If objection remains then the traffic management engineer will consult with the Police and the District Council Engineer, and others as required, on the issues raised.
A report on the objection(s) is then prepared for consideration by either the relevant highways committee or the elected cabinet member. Even if authority to make the TRO was delegated to a chief officer, the consideration of any objection should be undertaken by elected member(s).
The report should include the recommendations of the traffic management engineer and, in the case of TROs affecting PROWs, the views of the PROW office with regard to future action.
The decision can be to abandon, amend or proceed with the proposal. If the proposal is amended then it requires to be re-authorised as described at 2 and re-consulted upon as described at 3.
The majority of authorities will wish to retain the right to make a choice as to how to proceed with any proposal which receives objections without any "outside interference". However, in the case of "high profile" routes, or proposals attracting many objections, it is sensible to consider the holding of a public inquiry to decide the matter.
If it is decided that a public inquiry is necessary then the authority would refer the proposed order plus the objections to the Department for Transport who, after considering the case, would decide whether the holding of a public inquiry was appropriate.
6. Make the TRO
If there are no objections then the order is made as proposed.
If objections are made but the decision is still taken to proceed then the order is made as proposed.
In each case, the authority must publish notices in the local paper and on site and make a copy of the Order and plan available for public inspection for at least six weeks.
When there are objectors the authority must notify them of the making of the TRO.
If the TRO is not made then, although there is no need to publicise the decision, the relevant documents must still remain available for inspection for six weeks.
