National policy or urban planning urged
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• More use should be made of rail and shipping, Public Transport should be regarded as a social service, and there should be a national policy on urban area planning.
These were among points made at the annual dinner of the PTA's Northern division by Newcastle Labour MP Mr Bob Brown.
And he added that we should look at the possibility of opening up railway sidings to give door to door service.
"Since the majority of freight (85 per cent) is carried by road and only 10 per cent goes by rail, we are committed to road haulage. But large indivisible loads must be kept out of the conurbations. I believe the time is long overdue for some of these loads to go by ship."
In reply, FTA president Mr L. A. Castleton said: "We must find a way of speeding up the process between the time a road is conceived and the time construction begins.
"New roads should not be bulldozed through regardless, but where a need has been proved — taking account of the interests of the whole community and not just the vociferous few — there has to be action."
He added that any authority which shelved well-planned road schemes should stop and think. "While negative policies might be popular in the short-term they rarely lead to long-term prosperity."