Come to Scotland
Page 7
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DISTRIBUTION companies may be wooed to Be!Ishii! in Central Scotland, as part of a £57m project to create 3,500 new jobs in the Motherwell area.
The Scottish Development Agency is planning to diversify Motherwell's industrial base, Athich has depended on steel and heavy engineering, and Dtans to encourage food and ransport companies into the Flighead industrial estate, in Bellshill.
The food companies would be ancouraged into a "food park", )elieved to be the first of its kind n Britain, while they, and the substantial network of notorways and trunk roads in he area, should attract distribuion and transport companies.
An SDA spokesman told CM hat it will make an active effort o promote the area as a distri)ution centre, but it expects the private sector will make its own contribution.
It is understood that the SDA wants to have one or two larger distribution depots in the area, and for other smaller facilities to be provided in the area. These would deal not only with pure matters of transport operation, but would also include service industries such as motor factors and vehicle service centres.
Freight Transport Association Scottish controller Gordon Dougall said that the SDA plan is one which the FTA supports, and said that Bellshill is an ideal location for such a development. He added that, once the SDA gives the project its final go-ahead, it will be in a position to act very quickly.
But the attitude of the Road Haulage Association is less welcoming. Scottish secretary Tom Brattin said the area committee recognised that there is a need for secure vehicle parking in the area, but it is concerned that new operators might be attracted into Bellshill.
He said the committee is concerned that operators would be attracted by low rates or rents, and that many English operators would use the site as a base, and create low cost competition for established Scottish operators.
"On balance, the committee fears that it is not a good idea," Mr Brattin added.
Mr Brattin said that the RHA has also been discussing the possibility of Strathclyde Regional Council extending commer cial vehicle parking restrictions from Glasgow into the adjacent Rutherglen and Cambuslang districts. He said that while the RHA has no objection to designated parking areas being created, it is vital that these should be secure.
EARLY signs of an economic upturn have been seen in the Ireland-Scotland trade, and Northern Ireland Trailers (Scotland), a member of P&O European Transport Service, reports a good start to 1982.
Eastbound crossings of its sixdays a week Ardrossan-Belfast service have increased over the first five months of 1982, while the westbound journey has remained traditionally strong.
Last October, NI Trailers opened a £450,000 transport depot at Ardrossan to support its growing integrated shipping and road transport service.