Chalker: 'We'll stop GLC'
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
TRANSPORT Under Secretary Lynda Chalker has given the strongest hint so far that the Government will block the Great London Council's proposed ban on 38-tonne lorries.
She told Freight Transport Association London members on Tuesday: "The Government has no intention of supporting any proposals which are not properly thought through and which would be to the detriment of London as a whole."
Mrs Chalker said she had seen no supporting arguments for the GLC proposals which she said had "major differences" from environmentally-influenced lorry controls.
The GLC, she argued, was trying to score a "cheap political point" by taking unilateral action, and she accused it of preempting its own Wood Inquiry into the possible effects of lorry bans in London.
Meanwhile, we hear that the transport industry's countercampaign to the GLC's imminent assault on the heavy lorry could cost £8,000, but there is still no united approach.
The ETA is the driving force behind the campaign to counter the two pronged GLC attack — the intended ban on lorries over 32.5 tonnes from all roads in its area, and a £90,000 campaign to mobilise public opinion against the heavy lorry.
It convened a meeting last week at which its proposals for a campaign — reckoned to cost about £8,000 — were put to representatives of the Road Haulage Association, Movement for London the British Road Federation offshoot), the Confederation of British Industry, and the London Chamber of Commerce. All present agreed that the GLC moves represent a serious :threat to lorry operation in London, especially on longterm employment prospects.
Movement for London, which believes a ban cannot be made to work until suitable by-pass roads are built around London, is convinced of the value of a concerted campaign, and looks likely to join with the FTA, but the RHA had still to discuss the matter internally on Tuesday this week.
A spokesman said it supported the idea of opposing the GLC attacks "in principle" but said there was a view in its ranks that the industry's powder should be kept dry until the Wood Inquiry reports back in the spring. If it came out with an unfavourable view on the lorry, then the RHA would want to counter it