Minister is keen to hear hauliers' view
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by Karen Miles • Hauliers are invited by Transport Secretary Brian Mawhinney to give their views in his newly announced debate on the future balance between transport and the environment.
The call for ideas follows a speech by Mawhinney last week when he outlined the conflicts between more road building and the need to protect wildlife and the countryside.
The audience at the Confederation of British Industry heard Mawhinney say that green campaigners and those wanting upgraded roads need to work out common ground before the Government can decide policy.
The DOT this week says: "Dr Mawhinney wants to speak to individuals, not just well-organised groups and the haulier is one of the best placed individuals to identify how our policy can change".
Next week Mawhinney will speak to environmental pressure group Transport 2000 and the Freight Transport Association.
By the end of the year, he should be close to producing guidelines for future transport policy. But already, since his July 1994 takeover from John MacGregor, observers have noted his greater
Mawhinney: wants views on roads from hauliers.
sympathy for the environment over his predecessor.
And at the CBI Mawhinney also said: "We have to take a very hard look at whether economic interests should coincide more closely with environmental interests.
"Are we all prepared to curtail our rising economic prosperity to some extent to protect the site of historic significance, the rare flower or the great crested newt and all that they represent?"
The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the debate but argues that first the Government should improve enforcement on smoky vehicles and introduce better tax incentives to encourage companies to buy newer trucks with cleaner engines.
The Road Haulage Association has said Mawhinney will be unable to find common ground between environmentalists and industrialists. One haulier's message
• Dennis Kirk, managing director of Macclesfield, Cheshire-based general haulier William Kirk would like to see the Government ditch its plans to introduce rood tolls. He would like to see oil vehicle taxes scrapped and fuel tax increased. "People doing lots of mileage will pay for it in the fuel they are using." He thinks park-and-ride schemes and cheaper public transport ore the best ways to get rid of unnecessary car journeys.