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'Consult us properly before maja transport changes' say Chambers of Commerce
Page 31
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Report to Minister is sceptical of the benefits of integration, cautious about the NFA and "social necessity" and wants licensing changes to avoid new restrictions.
ANY changes in transport policy should demonstrably be in the interests of the user and, since the vast majority of the 56,000 firms which are members of affiliated Chambers are users of transport, it is of great concern to them that there must be adequate consultation with users at every stage in the formulation and implementation of policy. This is the main theme of a detailed memorandum which the Association of British Chambers of Commerce has sent to the Minister of Transport as comment on the White Paper on Transport Policy.
The memorandum points out that although the White Paper makes several references to consultation with users, very little such consultation appears to have taken place, and the ABCC also asks the Minister to clarify the role of the Transport Users Consultative Committees in view of the importance which the Paper places on the transport planning aspect of the Regional Economic Planning Councils.
Coming after the Confederation of British Industry's criticisms of the National Freight Authority plan and the vagueness of proposals for the future of carriers' licensing, the ABCC report shows that trade as well as industry is deeply concerned about the possible effects of Mrs. Castle's transport plans.
What consultation ?
After referring to several promises of consultation in the White Paper and a speechby Mr. Stephen Swingler promising a survey of transport users, the ABCC memorandum points out that it might have been useful to have had this survey's results before publication of the White Paper. The Association also asks whether users will be approached via their organizations or directly and, if the latter, on what basis they will be selected.
On regional consultation, the memorandum makes the point that the TUCCs will be affected by the creation of Regional Planning Councils, with their transport responsibilities; the ABCC reiterates its 1962 view that since machinery for considering users' needs is inadequate there are many who believe that unless the powers of the TUCCs are widened the committees should be disbanded.
The memorandum welcomes the intention to sort out the uneconomic railway services from the commercially justifiable ones and hopes that the device of local—as against national—subsidies will be a satisfactory check on the use of community finance. The report says transport managers • felt that part of the railways' relative failure to win an appropriate share of new freight business was because of over-frequent alterations in management structure and bewilderingly rapid changes of staff.
The Chambers of Commerce say they are puzzled by the use of the word "re-integrated" in paragraph 23 of the White Paper. In no real sense of the word were road and rail services "integrated" under the former BTC—indeed there was intense rivalry between nationalized road and rail services at the time, whatever the intention may have been. The Association ap plauds the aim to provide efficient, cheap a reliable rail services which will "attract t traffic to which they, are basically suited" t comments that until the relative true costs transport are accurately defined, judgments which traffics are "basically suited" can only based on assumptions or very broad assessmen The ABCC hopes that the Government's ix posed enquiries will indeed reveal the facts outstanding issues "including that of the ra ways' track costs which have been a matter controversy for the last 40 to 50 years."
Misgivings about N FA
Cautious and conditional acceptance of tl National Freight Authority by the ABCC accompanied by the remark that membe would oppose anything which went beyond d integration of the two publicly-owned bodies which reduced competition by interfering wit the right of firms to use their own transport to employ private enterprise hauliers. Or Chamber, while welcoming the better servic that might result from BRS/BR co-ordination the c. and d. side, expresses grave misgivings tin direction of traffic by the NFA might eliminai customers' choice.
Some members are reportedly sceptical aboi expected benefits. They feel that in transpoi undertakings integration and rationalizatio soon reach the point of diminishing returns, an they quote the THC 1965 annual report on th point that economies of scale do not operate i road transport as they do in some other field! The Association believes "it would be a majc disservice to the user if the effective service developed over the past few years by the TH( were to be weakened by the application c mistaken administrative policies."
The memorandum stresses that the line train is itself a means of securing better co ordination between road and rail transpot and that if the terminals were open to a corners, road and rail services would automatic ally complement each other in the MOE advantageous way; the liner train woull depend for its success upon its ability to wii traffic by offering an attractive service to trader and hauliers alike. But artificial direction o traffic to rail in defiance of the relative cost involved would soon render the NFA uncompeti tive vis-a-vis the independent haulier o C-licensee. It was to be hoped that selection o the method of transport would therefore ts based on costs and not on preconceived notion: that certain types of traffic were inherently mon suited to one mode than to another. Tht Association would welcome full disclosure 1:13 the Minister of how the NFA was to be operated The ABCC feels that the Geddes Committed convincingly demonstrated that there were few objectives of transport policy which could no be more effectively secured by means other thar a licensing system. Some members felt that e licensing system was necessary but none wished to see it used simply as a means of restricting entry into road haulage. Any policy must provide stability, but not rigidity, in the transport industry and must ensure the enforcement of high standards of safety and maintenance. The Association asks the Government to make clear what it means by the need "to devise a licensing system which is an effective instrument of a modern, national freight policy"—and hopes that Chambers of Commerce will be among those consulted on such important matters. H.B.C.