GLC's £30 a day permit scheme is'not on'
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cTA slams proposal which would cost f50m a year Or lorries entering London
y CM reporter
PROPOSAL — now bere the Greater London 'ouncil to charge lorries 30 a day for entering the 40 sq mile area bounded by ie North and South Cirular roads was described us week is "just not on" by Freight Transport Assoiation. Mr R. K. Turner, ie Association's highway nd traffic adviser, told C14 -tat the idea, revealed at the )oE's lorry planning !minar last week (CM. last ,eek) would add £50 m a ear to freight costs.
The £30 a day scheme is ne of several ideas being iscussed by the GLC. ithers include the banning I through vehicles over 16 tons gross or over 11 m long, an access ban between 7am and 6pm on vehicles over 24 tons gross or 12m long, or either of these schemes accompanied by a £30 a day permit charge. Such schemes could be implemented either in the 140sq miles between the North and South Circulars or in the 10 sq mile central area.
The same week as the £30 a day idea was revealed, Dame Evelyn Dennington, chairman of the GI.0 transport committee, announced apparently independently the GLC is proposing a system of supplementary licensing charges for all vehicles entering central London during the daytime.
"It is a pity that these schemes have been produced in parallel hut do not appear to have been related", said M r Turner. He said that the Dame's scheme would not result in any improvement in traffic conditions until better roads were built. Surveys had shown, he pointed out, that 90 per cent of London's traffic was access traffic.
Savage attack
The supplementary licensing proposals -published as a consultative document and said to be capable of reducing London's traffic by 40 per cent — have been savagely attacked by the British Road Federation. It says in a statement that the scheme would put an intolerable lead on public transport. create insoluble administrative problems and force traffic into suburbia.
Both the supplementary licensing scheme and the €30 a day idea are due to be presented to the London Freight Conference, a standing advisory body organized by the Gi .0 and including all interested parties, on April 17. A comprehensive document will be published then including all proposals, schemes and ideas relating to the movement of freight in London.