GLC v Ridley: judgment reserved
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JUDGMENT has been reserved in the High Court fight between Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley and the Greater London Council over its proposed lorry ban.
But time is tight for the GLC, which must move fast to implement the ban before it is abolished next April.
Mr Justice McNeill is studying both sides legal arguments and is expected to give his judgment by around the end of this month.
In the three-day court battle the GLC argued that Mr Ridley had acted illegally in effectively blocking the ban proposals. The Department of Transport's counsel said that he had every right to have moved in such a way.
The GLC: is said to be happy over the way the hearing went. The DTp did concede that the GLC had acted reasonably and within the law in its effort to move ahead with the night and weekend ban for lorries over 16.5 tonnes, a GLC spokesman said.
But the GLC has asked Mr Justice McNeill to come to an early judgment. It has always said that even after the last legal hurdle was cleared, the
GLC in the dark until the .judge's decision.
ban would take six months to implement.
Whatever side wins, if there is an appeal this will delay the GLC again. And there is still the need to have Mr Ridley's authorisation for the ...750,000 needed for the signing for the ban.