York Council’s Labour leader has finally backed Liberal Democrat calls for a cross-party scrutiny review of the Lendal Bridge trial, saying “it is the right thing to do”.

The Liberal Democrat Group has called for an independent review of the trial by the council’s cross-party scrutiny committee. The Lib Dems say there are still unanswered questions over the trial, which was abandoned last month after a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruled the Labour run council had no power to issue penalty fines. The Lib Dems say it is essential that lessons are learnt so that future attempts at tackling city-centre congestion are more successful.

At last night’s Cabinet meeting the Council Leader, James Alexander, was challenged on the issue by Lib Dem Councillors Ann Reid and Ian Cuthbertson and admitted that it would be right to hold a review if that is what opposition councillors wanted.Before last night, Labour had failed to support a full scrutiny review of the trial and instead announced plans for a ‘commission’ to look at the more general issue of congestion in York.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport on City of York Council, commented:

“I am pleased that the Labour leader has finally appeared to back our calls for a full cross-party scrutiny review of the Lendal Bridge trial. He now needs to ensure that his fellow Labour councillors support the move and play a full role in the process.

“We need a proper review in public to get answers to the questions which Labour have ducked so far. These include how the Labour run council implemented a scheme which was ruled ‘unlawful’, why the signage was so poor that 50,000 motorists were fined, and why there no real public consultation before the trial.

“We also need to understand why in the face of overwhelming opposition from residents and local businesses Labour pushed on with the closure beyond its original six months. And why Labour is using taxpayers’ money to fund its legal battle to now justify the botched closure.

“Only by properly reviewing the Lendal Bridge trial and learning what went wrong can the council hope to be more successful in other attempts at tackling congestion.I recognise that there are serious challenges for the future, but it is crucial that we first learn the lessons from this episode.”

A video of last night’s Cabinet meeting can be found here: http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts Cllr James Alexander made his statement during the ‘Public Participation’ section in response to Cllr Ann Reid.

The Liberal Democrat Group will formally submit the topic for scrutiny review at next week’s Annual Scrutiny Work Planning Event.