FTA and RHA slam Dip
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• If the Department of Transport gets the legislative opportunity to revise the law concerning operators' licensing and environmental conditions, it will add a further layer of controls and create more practical problems, predict both the industry's trade associations.
The Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association have now presented further detailed responses to the DTp's proposals which are aiming to change the procedures and scope of 0-licensing.
Both associations have already criticised the proposals as "negative and petty" and "worrying" (CM, December 13). They are now warning that the legislative amendments "would have serious implications for the road haulage industry, imposing further unnecessary restrictions on operational flexibility and compelling road hauliers to comply with legal requirements that are not imposed on other industries."
The submissions from both associations to the DTp's proposals are very similar. Points they include are: LI Legislation should not be changed to allow environmental representations to be made about the effects of vehicles leaving and entering an operating centre. "The representations must be restricted to within the 'immediate' vicinity and not in dude the access roads," says the RI-IA.
The three-month rule, giving essential operational flexibility, must be maintained. E No additional controls should be imposed on other activities at an operating centre.
▪ Protection should be ex tended for established operators — the imposition of Licensing Authority conditions should be denied if there is no material change.
▪ Itinerant workers who have no identifiable operating base should not be allowed to obtain an 0-licence.
E A parish council should not be allowed to make representations before an LA — its representation should go via the local authority.
D Some system of outline 0licence approval in connection with the development of greenfield sites should he provided at the time planning approval is given.
111 LAs should not be required to notify objectors of other objections, and responses by applicants should not be copied to objectors and representors.
The RHA wants to see the removal of the time limit of five years after which an operator must apply for a new licence, but the ETA is more cautious. "The five-year renewal does enable regular reassessment of an operator's conduct," says the FTA. "We do not wish to see any diminution in standards."