Tipper trucks taking waste material from the Bath Press site to Wick Quarry in South Gloucestershire have been using the A431 as an unofficial short cut.
Tipper trucks on the A431 at Swineford
The Bath Press site on Lower Bristol Road is being redeveloped for housing by developer City & Country, and construction traffic should be using the A4.
But instead heavy vehicles belonging to various contractors have been travelling along the A431 through the villages of Kelston, Swineford and Bitton, and then along the A4175 through Oldland Common.
The Echo understands that there are between 150 and 200 daily trips, with as many as 19 trucks working on the job.
We have seen videos of lorries, sometimes in convoy, travelling in both directions along the A431 through Swineford and Bitton, as well as arriving at and leaving the Bath Press site via Windsor Bridge Road.
Fully laden, the trucks are believed to weigh some 32 tonnes.
Concerns have been raised in Bitton about the speed that some of the vehicles have been travelling, particularly at school rush hour, and about the impact on the bridge over the River Avon in the village as three years ago it was revealed that it might need strengthening or even replacing.
It is understood that South Gloucestershire Council has been liaising with Bath & North East Somerset Council about the tipper trucks.
This week, Councillor Matt McCabe, the cabinet member for built environment and sustainable development at B&NES Council, told the Echo that the developers have been asked to remind all of their contractors of the approved vehicular route.
“We will monitor the situation in case any further issues arise,” he added.
