Highway Authority Urged in Lords Debate
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Our Parliamentary Correspondent THE formation of a highway 1 authority, controlling its own funds, was strongly advocated by Lord Teynham in the Lords debate on road and rail transport last week, Such an authority, he said, would ensure the continuity that was vitally necessary in our road policy.
Lord Salisbury gave the news that the railway charges scheme was expected to be submitted to the Transport Tribunal "very soon."
Lord Lucas, opening the debate, said that no Government for a long time had had so many transport problems as the present one. There was the plan for spending £1,200m. on the railways; that for spending £147m, on the roads over four years; the increasingly serious budgetary problem of the tax on fuel and on road vehicles; the congestion of the roads in our towns and cities; and the disposal of the road haulage assets of the British Transport Commission.
Bridge Rebuilding
In the whole of the plan for rebuilding bridges, he saw no statement that the necessary bridges were to be built over the 5,000 level crossings that cut up our highways.
There was no mention of the fact that the money for capital expenditure on the roads was found by the vehicle user and ratepayer. Whilst the railways were going to spend £600m. on tracks, the road user was to contribute £6,187m. in vehicle taxation in all its aspects.
"Are we to understand that this taxation will remain at its present high level while road expenditure stays at its present low level? " Lord Lucas demanded.
'If we are going to bring road taxation down, as we must do, what will be the impact of the greater efficiency of road transport on a cost basis, and therefore on the charging basis, on the railways? "
If traffic tended to be maintained as at present, the roads projected by the Minister of Transport would be over 116 trafficked even before they were com pleted. In five years' time we shall have to widen some of the roads that are mentioned in the plan for the next four years."
Did the Government not think the time had arrived to call a halt to the disposal of the B.T.C.'s road haulage assets? The 25-mile limit had gone. Of the total vehicles held by British Road Services at the time of the 1953 Act, the total sold so far was about 13,000. No large units had been sold; nearly every one of those vehicles had gone to increase the fleet of a small operator.
At the present time there were in the country 60,000 A-licence and 60,000 B-licence vehicles competing with the B.R.S. fleet of 17,000. There were 860,000 C-licence vehicles.
We had now achieved all the benefits —if one could call them that—that it was wise to achieve_ None of the old large users had come back into the industry. That was significant.
Unable to Meet Demands "1 believe B.R.S. are reaching the point where if any more of their fleet is taken away they will be unable to satisfy the demands made on them. And there is no other organization to come in and take their place."
Lord Salisbury, the Lord President, said he thought B.R.S. had done a good job—they had worked hard to deliver the goods. But the result of a concentration of power inside that vast corporation had been more and more to kill perfectly legitimate and stimulating competition from private enterprise. • "While indeed it may well take some little time, I agree, for industry to settle down in its new conditions, I believe there are already signs that the fresh air of competition is operating and that 'will mean better service for the customer."
The Minister of Transport was not dissatisfied with the progress that had been made in denationalization. "With regard to these large units, I would point out that not the same real attempt has been made yet to dispose of them as has been the case with small units," said Lord Salisbury.
Speaking on roads, he stated: "We must begin now to plan and build the essential arteries." There was a number of new problems which did not brook delay. There was the problem of abnormal loads which had to go by road.
Lord Teynham said he would like to sea a highway authority which would take over the highways section of the Ministry of Transport and have full powers to raise loans and manage its finances in the same way as the B.T.C. or any other authority. There was nothing new about the idea--the Road Board was set up as long ago as 1910. When it ceased to function in 1919, the Treasury resumed control of the proceeds of motor taxes and the funds of the Board.
30-year Bonds
The new 10-year programme of roads in the U.S., he said, was likely to be financed by the issue of 30-year bonds repayable from sales taxes on petrol and oil.
Lord Hawke, replying to the debate, said that the B.T.C. would have plenty to do in trying to get back the long• distance haulage of this country for the railways without having to embark on much short haulage in addition. "There is a tremendous field for the railways in purely specialized long-distance haulage, a field in which they will not come up against very severe competition from these small people."
Small men had taken the opportunity under denationalization to come into the industry and disturbance of the system had been avoided. The only conceivable criticism would be over speed, and that had not been neglected.
In ,the result, this competition is already beginning to be in evidence on the roads. Moreover, there have been remarkably few complaints that any place suffers from lack of service, and we intend to go on implementing the 1953 Act in this way."