Consultation on weight restriction enforcement on Barnard Castle Bridge

What's the latest?

Background

Currently, the police enforce 'moving traffic restrictions' across the county (such as roads banned to vehicles, weight limits and no entry restrictions). New laws come into force on 31 May 2022 that allow us to apply to also enforce these restrictions.

If our application is successful, we will be able to support the police enforcement using approved camera systems. This will allow us to monitor key restrictions more efficiently.

We propose to monitor a number of locations across the county. The first location we propose to start with is  the weight restriction on Barnard Castle Bridge.

What we proposed

There is already a weight restriction in place on the bridge, and there will be no change for people using it.

Currently, we collect the information and pass it to the police, who look at the data and issue a fine if necessary. We proposed to:

• monitor the weight restriction and issue fines (penalty charge notices) instead of the police to vehicles that are over the weight limit (7.5 tonnes)
• introduce a new, more efficient camera system at the bridge to streamline the process

Any money we receive from enforcing the weight limit will be used to maintain the camera and help run the service in the future. Any additional money will be used to support bus services and other transport projects throughout the county.

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