The guidance has been produced in response to concerns about the ability of traffic authorities to implement the publicity requirements when making permanent or temporary TROs during the current crisis. Its purpose is to mitigate the impact on the public and assist authorities in considering other means to inform them. It is temporary guidance and will be withdrawn once conditions allow.

In making a TRO, authorities must follow the Regulations. It is understood that owing to the impact of COVID19, compliance with some of the publicity provisions in the Regulations will be problematic for some authorities. In deciding whether to make a TRO, authorities should give consideration to their ability to comply with the procedural requirements of the Regulations. If an authority considers that it must proceed with a TRO but it is unable to comply with some of the publicity provisions, it should endeavour to use other means to ensure that individuals likely to be affected by TROs are informed of the orders, pursuant to the legislation.

The updated guidance covers 4 areas:

1. Advertising where local newspapers have moved to online publication only.
2. Advertising orders where the local newspaper has closed.
3. Posting notices of the order on the affected roads.
4. Making deposited documents available for public inspection at council offices.

Source: For the full update see here. 

For the latest news on COVID-19 from CIHT see here. 

For the latest blog post considering the actions that could be taken to support front-line efforts to deal with the impact of COVID-19 see here.