• COMMENT
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• "We are not going to take action that will harm the road freight industry and therefore by definition, British industry," Roger Freeman told the first rail-freight exhibition and conference, Freightconnection 92 in Birmingham, last week.
Well, that's a relief. But why does the transport minister think hauliers should need reassuring?
Perhaps it's because Freemen had just confirmed that the Government — which claims it is committed to increasing the volume of rail freight for reasons both environmental and economic — is considering extending Section 8 grants to private investors in rail distribution. The reason, according to Freeman, is the overcrowding of the trunk road network.
It seems odd that anyone should believe that spending money on rail will have any more than a minor effect on road congestion. Maybe Freeman has forgotten that his department announced, back in 1989, that £12 billion was to be invested in road construction and widening over the following decade. Here again, the idea was to improve the road network and reduce congestion, and this scheme is certainly more realistic.
Of course a lot of water has passed under the bridge since Roads for Prosperity was published, and the Government is believed to be falling behind its spending targets in real terms — despite spending £1.2 billion a year. This makes the £100m of grants to private rail developements since 1979 seem small beer.
Perhaps Roger Freeman is more astute than he at first appears. Times are hard, after all, and Freeman's scheme is likely to be cheaper than the existing one.