RHA slams Somerset proposals
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• Somerset County Council's national campaign to restrict trucks over 17 tonnes to motorways (CM 13-19 December) is "a ragbag of halfthought-out ideas", says the Road Haulage Association.
"The whole thing is an absolute nonsense," says an RHA spokesman, who attended last week's South West Planning Conference where Somerset presented its document, Lorries and the Environment. Fellow council delegates from the region gave Somerset councillors "almost no support", according to the RHA.
A rural delegate described the document as "impractical", and worried about its effect on farmers with larger vehicles, requiring access to their yards.
"It's a glib, vote-catching document which does not stand up to inspection," says the RHA., which supports "reasonable restrictions" but believes that Somerset's proposals would "double the number of smaller vehicles on the road".
However, the conference noted the proposals and agreed to submit them to the Association of County Councils. The RHA intends to reply in detail, and to enlist the support of the Freight Transport Association to defeat the proposals.