Liberal Transport Policy Move Today
Page 44
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT THE new Liberal transport policy goes before the Party's executive committee today (Friday) and its publication as a conference document is due soon. Their aims for "an efficient" transport system are set out in four sub-divisions: (1) To develop a national network of roads and railways related to "magnet" areas (to which population and industry would be attracted to halt the drift south), and to regional needs and the new requirements stemming from the Common Market. Annual roads expenditure of 1200m. should be realized by 1967.
(2) To ensure that all road users have the widest possible choice of transport by the charging of economic rates, the establishment of fair competition between the transport services.
and by abolishing. haulage licences.
(3) To make transport services economically self-supporting and subsidizing only such services as national and regional surveys show to be necessary for social and planning reasons.
(4) To reduce road congestion by ensuring users pay in accordance with their use of the roads, and by increasing the differentials between peak and off-peak loads.
Apart from the call to scrap licensing —advocated in other quarters as well— the fourth of these recommendations is of most interest to the haulage industry. I have already exclusively reported (The Commercial Motor, May 25) that Liberal policy-makers favour making road-users pay the costs of congestion," thereby discouraging congestion.