Peak Park site affects licence
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• Derbyshire
based farmer Mark Walker has succeeded in a bid to increase the authorisation on his licence, despite opposition from the Peak Park Planning Board. However, North Western LA Martin Albu has imposed conditions limiting the size of the vehicles and the times of operation.
Walker, of Old Forge Farm, Broadmeadow, Bakewell, held a licence for one vehicle without conditions. He wanted to increase the authorisation to three vehicles and one trailer.
The LA heard that Walker had originally applied for a licence to enable him to bring straw into his own farm from Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. After acquiring the vehicle he had found a demand to haul for other farmers and his vehicle could not cope with the work.
For the Peak Board, Rawdon Gascoigne said it had a duty to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the area. Walker might well require planning permission, as the size of the increase would not be considered as ancillary to agriculture. The farm was situated on a single track road and he felt it was incapable of accommodating three vehicles and a trailer. He did not believe vehicles could enter and leave without mounting the highway verge.
Walker said that he had never had any problem with the access after widening it to 18m. There would be no problems in parking and manoeuvring the vehicles and trailer once some stored stone was cleared.
Granting the increase, Albu said he could not rake account of planning matters. However, if planning consent was required, and Walker failed to obtain it, then the licence would have no effect. For environ• mental reasons he limited vehicle movements to
07:30-18:301u-8 and limited the maximum size of the vehicles to be operated to 32 tonnes.
Albu said the licence made the site an authorised operating centre which might be acquired in the future by someone as a base for a general haulage business. Therefore, in increasing the licence authorisation, he had taken account of the statement of intention that the vehicles would be used for the carriage of straw and other materials in connection with local agriculture.
Legal directory
• Commercial Motor's new edition of the Legal Directory which lists transport lawyers, expert witnesses, haulage consultants and suppliers of legal services, is due to be published next March. If you wish to be included, see Operators' Handbook on page 26.