Truck routes a concern for community

Nelson City Council is in hot water with some members of the community after apparently allowing logging trucks to drive past schools during school pickup and drop-off times.

This change was one of a number of recommendations from council staff changing the logging route protocol in place since 2002.

The recommended changes on the agenda included limiting the speed of logging trucks in the city to 40 kilometres per hour, limiting truck operations in the city overnight, and ‘‘truck movements along the defined route between 8-9am and 3-4pm during the school term be allowed but at no speed greater than 30kph’’.

The route that would be affected by this change covers Nile, Collingwood, Halifax, and Haven streets. It is prohibited for forestry trucks to use Tory or Milton St.

After concerns were raised by members of the public that logging trucks would be allowed to drive past schools at peak times with no consultation with the public, the chair of the council’s forestry advisory group, John Murray, put out a statement to clarify that the recommendations in the agenda were not accepted unchanged by the council.

‘‘The Forestry Advisory Group decided that engagement with [the] Council’s Transport Safety Officer and School Communities was essential before this change could be confirmed to allow operations to occur during these times,’’ he said.

‘‘The outcome of this engagement will be reported back to a future meeting of the Forestry Advisory Group to help determine if this change is appropriate.’’

He said the ‘‘draft protocols’’ included in the recommendations on the agenda were developed by council staff and forestry company PF Olsen, which managed the council’s commercial forest.