AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Lorry park at last?

12th September 1981
Page 9
Page 9, 12th September 1981 — Lorry park at last?
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Grampian, Aberdeen, Altens

3RAMPIAN. REGION has approved plans for a major lorry park at lareness Road, Altens, Aberdeen, on an eight-acre site owned by he Council.

It will have space for 150 vehicles, sleeping accommodaon for 40 drivers in individual edrooms, a restaurant, games oom, TV room, fuelling facilities 3 n the site, full security, andscaping to screen the park :rom other traffic, and possibly a weighbridge.

There will also be mainten)nce, warehousing and office ;pace for individual freight corn)anies.

The Shell Truckshop at Penrith las been taken as the model on which to develop an Aberdeen acility and Grampian is looking o the transport industry to ;reate and operate the facility, rhe council would provide the ;ite and force its use by banning orries from using certain roads n Aberdeen. Inadequate lorry )arking has been a contentious ssue for some years, and the iew park will be situated on the )utskirts of the city as land )rices in the centre are prohibititely high.

It is ironic the Council should )e searching for a commercial ieveloper when it turned down ;ommercial plans advanced ;ome years ago. At that time, the cost would have been around £1 m; it will be vastly greater now. From a survey some years ago, between 600 and 700 vehicles over 30cwt park overnight in public places and half of them are heavy and articulated vehicles. One third are from outside areas with no home base in the city and thus forced to use city facilities.

As a temporary measure, the Region has pressed the Scottish Development Agency to finance a temporary lorry park at South College Street, in Aberdeen.

This latter idea appeals particularly to Freight Transport Association Scottish controller Gordon Dougall who told CM it would be more suitable for lorry drivers who already use city centre accommodation. He said an out-of-town site, like Altens, was unlikely to attract sufficient use to justify the investment.

He said that the FTA has always supported the provision of lorry parking where needed, and appreciated the problems experienced in Aberdeen, but said he doubted whether the industry would finance a "Hilton-style" development on the outskirts of the city, especially in the present economic climate.

Road Haulage Association Scottish secretary Torn Brattin said his members are aware of Grampian's plans, and were planning to discuss it at an area committee meeting earlier this week.

Mr Brattin added that he supported Grampian's established policy of objecting to Operatorlicensing applications where the applicant cannot guarantee off'street parking, as this represented unfair competition for better-equipped operators.

Tags

Locations: Aberdeen

comments powered by Disqus