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Ridley blocks GLC ban

9th February 1985
Page 6
Page 6, 9th February 1985 — Ridley blocks GLC ban
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TRANSPORT Secretary Nicholas Ridley told the Greater London Council last week that it needs his consent to go ahead with its night and weekend lorry ban.

The GLC transport committee was to meet on Wednesday this week to decide its next stand.

Mr Ridley said he needs to be certain that the GLC has fulfilled its duty in preserving free movement of goods traffic before he agrees to the ban.

And if his consent is sought he said: "It would be my intention to establish a public inquiry so that the GLC's scheme and many objections it has attracted can be publicly and impartially weighed".

Mr Ridley also warned the GLC that it must not make any moves for a ban on "similar terms" or make any other kind of traffic order that would cover all of London.

Opposition transport spokesman described Mr Ridley's move as a "deliberate ploy to scupper the whole thing, knowing full well that a public inquiry will outlast the GLC."

Meanwhile the GLC transport committee was expected to complete the legal niceties of sending letters back and forth, and vote on Wednesday to challenge Mr Ridley.

This would lead to a High Court argument between the Government's and the GLC's top legal advisors, with the GLC arguing that its proposed scheme was reasonably thought through and permitted "expeditious" traffic movement.

Even though the environmentalists' shadow will not disappear, operators should not cooperate with the GLC, Freight Transport Association directorgeneral Garry Turvey said in London on Tuesday.

He told 350 members that he welcomed the Transport Secretary's action. This effectively blocked the GLC from introducing the ban unless there was a public inquiry.

But he said that the problem of environmental control would not go away. "It is easy to dismiss environmentalists as cranks, but the underlying challenge is underway," he said.

Any permits issued before a final ruling on the ban would be worthless, he warned.


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