More scope for by-passes, say •BRF
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ANOTHER 500 town and village by-passes could have been created if the Government had put back into the road programme half of the E850m extra tax from road users, the British Road Federation said in response to the Budget.
It said that Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe lost an opportunity to create 50,000 real jobs ih the construction industry, and provide many more communities with relief roads. It pointed out that while spending on roads has fallen by one third since the 1979 general election, road taxes have increased by £9,300m.
According to the White Paper on public expenditure to 1984/85, which was published last Tuesday, the Department of Transport may pay 10 per cent below the budgeted amount for motorways and trunk roads in 1981/82, and will complete more work than was first planned, as construction prices have risen by less than was forecast last year.
In 1982/83, the amount of cash available for roads will be £702m, 14 per cent more than for the current financial year, enabling the construction programme as detailed in the 1981 Roads White Paper logo ahead.
There will be a further four per cent available for 1983/84 and 10 per cent for 1984/85, enabling 400 miles of new roads to be completed by the end of the period, which will include 55 miles of the M25 and by-passes for 30 more towns and villages every year. About 200 miles of motorway will be reconstructed. In Scotland, £123m has been made available for roads and transport in 1982/83 and £104m has been made available for Northern Ireland in the same period. The Ulster figure rises to £120m for each of the following years.
While Confederation of British Industry president Sir Raymond Pennock welcomed the Budget as a whole, and particularly the 1.5 per cent reduction in National Insurance surcharge from August, the attitude of the road transport industry has mellowed little.
Road Haulage Association express parcels group chairman Brian Hayward said: "Our members will be disillusioned once again that the vital road freight industry has been singled out for excessive taxation.
Freight Transport Association president Len Payne told a Manchester audience last week: "Where was the rationale in knocking £750m off the national insurance surcharge, and then increasing distribution costs by £150m?"
But he did congratulate the Chancellor for having paid heed to its request for a lower dery tax increase, and said that the FrA looked forward to seeing by how much the lower weight vehicles are downtaxed once the new vehicle excise duty schedules are published.