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Page 22
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The Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Freight Transport Association (FTA) believe more should be done to provide guidance for local authorities when planning applications for truckstops are submitted.
Chrys Rampley, manager for infrastructure at the RHA. says: "The government and local councils need to realise they have a duty of care to truck drivers; and put the processes in place to ensure there is adequate provision along the country's main trunk roads."
She adds that a lot comes down to the attitude of the council. rather than a specific joined-up strategy: citing Suffolk County Council as an example. "Suffolk has identified sites along the A14 that could be developed. It's not the Highways Agency's role to provide sites. Suffolk then called for the industry to come up with plans for those sites."
Rampley adds that local councils need to realise they pay a big environmental cost by leaving truck drivers to park up in lay-bys. When drivers have no facilities, as with most lay-bys, they still need to go to the toilet and it's up to the council keep the lay-by clean for other users."
The RHA is trying to get the Department for Transport (DfT) to put more pressure on local authorities to ensure they make adequate provision in their regions.
Malcolm Bingham, head of road network management policy at the FTA, says the problem with truck parking is that there has not been a joined-up approach. He says: "The issue is that even though the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency, the Scottish government and the Welsh Assembly recognise the need for truckstops, the local planning system is a barrier."
Bingham points out that most truck drivers who want to use truck parking are on strategic routes, so sites need to be located near the motorway and trunk road system.