HGVs still a problem in Shenstone

I really hoped the HGV problem in Shenstone was going to be, more or less, a thing of the past when we managed to get rid of Wille Betz from the area last September.

And for a while, a month or two after they left, it was a joy to get letters from local people saying they felt they’d got their village back from the monstrous lorries. Infuriatingly, with all the work I put into it, the improvement was short lived. Recently, I’d been getting mixed messages from local people as to how much the problem of HGVs was on the increase again.

The people who own the site where Wille Betz were, assured me there were no plans to replace WB with yet another large haulier. Sadly, I’m afraid I believed them and it seems that was a foolish thing to do. At the public meeting I called for last Thursday it was apparent from the sixty or so people who attended that several more hauliers with massive HGVs are operating out of the ex WB site at South Staffs Freight.

So a new tactic is called for on my part as the owners of site don’t seem to want to cooperate with the Local Authorities who are willing to talk through ways of helping the situation. They also don’t seem to want to give some required information to the development control department.

Until now, a softly softly negotiation approach has been utmost in my mind. As far as I can tell no one is breaking the law by operating these HGVs from the site. Add to that the little bit of local employment it creates and the softly softly approach has been appropriate. But there is a big safety issue here. Already when large lorries pass each other in opposite directions they have to mount the pavement because the road through Shenstone isn’t wide enough for this type of vehicle. And recently we’ve been getting more and more of the new even larger HGVs complete with enormous trailer.

Someone is going to get hurt….a couple of the residents at the meeting said that when they had been pushing prams along the pavement they had needed to quickly seek refuge in front gardens because of the lorries mounting the curb.

A new tactic is what is needed and I’ve got several options which will, for the time being, remain unpublished. I will update again though in the next couple of weeks. I should know more then.

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