'Give lorries more road'
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COMMERCIAL vehicles should be given priority over cars by introducing a system of special licences and reserved road space to make door-to-door deliveries easier.
Speaking at the annual conference of the institute of Municipal Engineers last week, chairman of the Nat ional Freight Corporation, Sir Dan Pettit, said the real villain, when it came to urban congestion was the private car.
"Whereas a reasonable alternative to cars exists in the form of railway, subway or bus there is no substitute for the door-to-door operations of the lorry," he said.
Sir Dan warned at the con ference that there was a point at which the constraints by legislation on the heavy lorry would lead to the withdrawal of road transport services.
Operation of a road fleet would prove to be uneconomic, socially unattractive and eventually it would be impossible to carry on in business providing these services, said ' Sir Dan.
Also speaking at the confer ence was Transport Minister William Rodgers, who appealed to the counties to take more responsibility for putting up their own pro grammes for the future of the roads, and carrying them through.
He urged them to get away from the concept of ideals in road building and come back to the preparation of programmes which could be implemented and to get on with the job of carrying them through.
Mr Rodgers told the conference that central government should not be involved in sanctioning decisions that , should be carried out locally.
Three basic tasks faced transport in Britain. The first was to support industry and stimulate the economy. It should also give people rea sonable mobility to provide opportunities for employment. Thirdly it should also add to the local sense of community and the enjoyment of local environment, and not detract from it.
But Mr Rodgers warned that the objectives could be in conflict with one another. "It is not possible for Whitehall to prescribe a sensible compromise for each town and every area," he said.
And he warned that new investment was not always the answer to local problems, and that management solutions making more of the resources available could sometimes be the answer.