Wood late again
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE WOOD REPORT on the possible effects of a series of lorry bans in London has been delayed again, and the Greater London Council does not now expect to publish it until the middle of next month, writes ALAN MILLAR.
The report has been doomed cil's own transport officers.
to delay from its conception in It may be produced in time for April 1981, in the run-up to the at least brief consideration at the GLC elections which the Labour transport committee meeting Party won, and it is by no means scheduled for May 18.
certain that even the latest target date will be met.
Originally, the GLC wanted to conduct a quick inquiry to establish whether large-scale bans on heavy lorries were feasible, and to state the "facts" rather than the opinions of contrary pressure groups. It was to report back by January 1982 at the latest.
The nine-strong inquiry team, led by barrister Derek Wood (a former chairman of Chislehurst Labour Party) and embracing industry, environmentalist, academic and trade union interests, did not begin business until November 1981, and hearings ran well into 1982.
Legalisation of 38-tonners last year meant that the original remit to look at bans on vehicles over eight, 16 and 24 tonnes was insufficient and a 32.5-tonne ban is also being looked at now, But the major delaying factor is still the mass of figures being extracted from the GLC's 1981 traffic survey figures, which are being used to project the effects and needs for bans.
The inquiry team has already Spent at least one weekend preparing the latest drafts of chapters in the report — some have been drafted twice — and further marathon sessions are likely if the May deadline is to be met.
Because of the complexity of the information, it has not been possible just to add the 1981 figures to the chapters which already have been written, as there could have been some very vague conclusions about some possible controls.
Even when the report is presented to the public, the GLC is not now expected to act very