Policy is step in right direction
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GOVERNMENT ideas on transport, outlined in the White Paper, are welcomed as being "unexpectedly heartening" by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry this week.
The chamber praises the idea that transport policy is adaptable and must relate to other major policy fields and itself be inter-related. One of the most pleasing aspects of the paper, says the LCCI, is the fact that the Government seems to be getting nearer to a realistic financial policy. "Commercial realism can only be achieved by applying investment resources where they are needed and charging what the market will bear," says a chamber statement. The White Paper concept of making the Government proprietor of the fixed assets of the railways and leasing them to British Rail is seen as a step in the right direction. Such a policy would mean that Government support would be confined to unprofitable services, leaving others to make their profits where they can, says the chamber. But the paper is slammed for the Government's "inability" to "abandon the muddled concept" of allowing the local authority to control parking in non-residential areas.