From GPG

Traffic Regulation Orders and Users in Opposition

The use of traffic regulation orders, temporary or permanent, is often perceived as a means to prevent unpopular user groups having access to the countryside. There are ways of lessening or diffusing the potential for conflict.

• Some Highway Authorities pre-empt such claims by declaring that they abide by the Highways Act 1980 s130 'to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of and so far as possible to prevent their stopping up or obstruction' as the first stage of the process i.e. they commit to publicly justifying the removal of people's rights even on a temporary basis.
• Be very aware of what legislation you need to use, its limitations and how you intend to monitor and enforce it.
• For larger scale issues ensure there is public and/or stakeholder consultation of the overall problem so that a publicly supported policy base is available and all the stakeholders are known and contactable.
• Ensure that management of closures is efficient i.e. notices go up on the day of closure, are maintained throughout the closure period and are removed promptly at the end of the period. If you cannot do it over a short time period inform the various interest groups that it will take you a certain amount of time to check the routes before reopening and your program is ...
• Ensure that any repair work given as the reason for the closure is undertaken. Case law for HA1980 s56 notices give two years or thereabouts as the longest period allowed for delay. The Local Government Ombudsman has also cited two years as being too long a delay for some rights of way issues.
• If applying experimental TROs have some published model that shows what would make the experiment a success or failure. This is especially relevant to wildlife conservation issues.
• Make sure that you have wide ranging and good data to base your proposals on including usage counters, eye witness reports, photographs, technical reports from other officers etc.
• If attempting to ban public vehicle use of a byway make sure you are informed as to what private use is made - according to the Road Transport Research Laboratory road damage goes up to the sixth power of axle weight. Therefore the damage done by a carefully driven 1500kg twin axle 4x4 is going to be considerably less than the refuse collection lorry at 15,000kg over three axles or banning the public 4x4 use of a lane over winter may have little effect on its condition if the landowner has shooting parties in convoys of 4x4 using the route from October to the end of January.
• Highway Authorities are creatures of statute and can only do what is legally permitted. Policies are statements of how the authority intends to apply the law with what overall aim or priority. Therefore if what you are doing is still legal you can permit exceptions in fact you must exercise discretion otherwise you may be open to criticism from the Local Government Ombudsman. It may be worthwhile in discussions with stakeholders trying to outline what may be considered exceptional circumstances e.g. would you lift a TTRO on a byway for one vehicle carrying a terminally ill local resident to gain access to a viewpoint so they could see the view for the last time?