Armitage: Howell hints at action
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LONG WAIT for a decision on the Armitage Report may be ling to an end. Transport Secretary David Howell gave the ingest hint so far of his intentions when he met seven environital groups in London this week, ALAN MILLAR reports.
he meeting, attended by 'sport 2000, the Council for Protection of Rural England, Civic Trust, Friends of the th, the Conservation Society, Council for Environmental iservation, and the National incil on Inland Transport had ne and a half hour meeting Mr Howell on Monday to hange views on the report, ch recommended, among er things, increases in gross icle weights.
lr Howell and senior civil serts indicated that a statement 3overnment policy about in creased weights and the attendant road improvement and environmental measures would be made in a White Paper. The Government hopes to have this ready by the end of the year.
While the Department of Transport is acting cautiously on this matter, it seems likely that Mr Howell will want to have the Government's thoughts ready in time for the Council of EEC Transport Ministers' meeting on December 15. That will be Mr Howell's only opportunity to chair the council before Britain surrenders its presidency at the end of the year.
Mr Howell stressed to the environmentalists that he has to reconcile the need for competitiveness and prosperity with the quality of society. He added that Armitage covers lorries, people, and the environment, and is not merely about lorry weights. But he also pointed out that his judgement will be based on the needs of the United Kingdom, although the European Commission's revised proposals for a 40 tonne maximum weight limit throughout the EEC are bound to hold a magnetic attraction to a Government which wants to project an image of being a good European.
The environmental groups came away from Monday's meeting with a feeling that the Government may be prepared to inject more funds into the by'pass programme, but detected little ministerial support for Armitage's concept of lorry action areas.