The West Greenwich traffic reduction scheme was implemented under an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) which was made on 25th August 2020. Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) are legal documents that enable a local highway authority to prohibit, restrict or reduce the use of a road by traffic.
An ETRO can stay in force for up to a maximum of 18 months while the effects are monitored and assessed, this period ends and the ETRO expires on 25th February 2022. The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 allow for the modification of experimental traffic orders, no more than 12 months after the order was made otherwise the option to make the order permanent is lost. Informed by the results of the consultation undertaken at that point, in August 2021, the Cabinet Member for Environment, Sustainability and Transport took a decision to amend the ETRO.
If the Council wishes to convert the ETRO into a permanent TMO at the end of the experimental period, it will be necessary to take a decision on the West Greenwich experimental scheme after the consultation closes on 18th February 2022 and before the ETRO expires on 25th February 2022.
The Council, therefore, needs to consider now whether to make the experimental scheme permanent.
For the reasons set out above, there are clear grounds for urgency, and it would not be prudent, nor in the public / taxpayer’s interests to wait for call in to expire.
For the reasons set out above and in accordance with paragraph B10 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules in the Constitution, the Chief Executive has agreed both that the decision proposed is reasonable and is to be treated as a matter of urgency because any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would prejudice the public interest.