CAMPAIGNERS fighting to protect historic buildings and a medieval bridge from heavy lorries have won the backing of Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron.

Burford residents want weight restrictions to ban lorries from the town’s High Street to protect its listed 15th-century buildings and 13th-century bridge.

Campaigners warn hundreds of HGVs go through the road and over the single carriageway medieval bridge each day.

They said they were causing the buildings on the High Street to shake and crumble and made it dangerous for pedestrians to use it.

Mr Cameron’s office said he has twice written to highways authority Oxfordshire County Council to call for a ban.

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The authority said any restrictions would have to be enforced with a traffic camera system, which it could not afford.

Mr Cameron said: “This is a serious and ongoing issue for Burford that affects its residents, tourism and the many listed buildings.

“I have been in touch a number of times with Oxfordshire County Council on behalf of concerned residents and I will continue to do what I can as the local MP to ensure that we see progress on this issue.”

Campaigners said on average 444 lorries drive along the picturesque High Street every day.

Burford resident Kenneth Gray said: “It’s a beautiful town and 90 per cent of the buildings in High Street are listed.

“In fact it has the largest number of listed buildings of any town in the UK.

“People can see dust falling down in their bedrooms as the HGVs shake the houses. Also the town’s dominant business is tourism and the tourists are often in fear of their lives crossing the road because of the trucks.”

County council cabinet member for environment David Nimmo Smith said enforcement action resulting from cameras would be too costly.

He said: “We want to find a solution for Oxfordshire as a whole, not just Burford, and we think this would involve using cameras. The technology isn’t quite there for that at the moment and we don’t have the resources to provide enough staff to analyse the data cameras provide.”

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