THE TIPPING LINK

23rd September 1966, Page 249

23rd September 1966

Page 249

Page 249, 23rd September 1966 — THE TIPPING LINK

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BETWEEN two important events, one nearly over and the other barely started, the lines of communication may seem on the face of it far more tenuous than they should be. The fifth world meeting of the International Road Federation in London has been mainly concerned with the problems of building roads and to a smaller but still important extent with the problems arising from their use. Scarcely a word has been spoken about the different types of vehicle which are the justification for roads.

At Earls Court the approach could not be more different. The vehicles are on display as an end in themselves. There is little to remind visitors that the proper place for the vehicles is on the highway.

There is no ground for criticism here. The two events would not be likely to have the same themes. Their close connection in time, however, prompts the reflection that a confrontation might have been arranged—in fact might even be taking place—as a symbolic recognition of the many ways in which the makers of the roads are linked with the manufacturers of the vehicles.

THE USER'S PART The user would also have his place at such a meeting and for more than one reason. Often overlooked is the part which he plays in the actual work of road construction. The importance of an adequate and reliable supply of tipping vehicles will become greater as the road programme accelerates.

It would be interesting to know to what extent the road contractor in the course of his preliminary planning consults the people who will have the task of carrying the materials without which the work cannot even begin. In many cases he seems to rely upon the more or less casual assembly of a wide assortment of tipping vehicle operators, many of them owner-drivers.

The dominating position this arrangement gives the contractor makes it possible for him virtually to dictate the rates which will be paid. There are disadvantages. The supply of vehicles in these circumstances may be unreliable, especially if the terms are insufficient to give operators a reasonable return after meeting all statutory requirements and ensuring adequate standards of vehicle maintenance and road safety.

In this situation operators have developed their own protective casing. Unsatisfactory rates have been the immediate stimulus to co-operation among hauliers on tipping vehicle work, and continue to be the mainspring of joint action, for example, by hauliers carrying from quarries in the West of England.

In many other cam co-operation has gone beyond this stage. The opportunity has often been taken with the inauguration of some more than usually large building project. The situation which arose during the construction of the Preston bypass, the first stretch of motorway in Britain, led to the setting up of North-Western Tippers, possibly the first tipping group. The benefits which co-operation could bring both to the operators and to the contractors were then demonstrated in the same part of the country when the Lancaster bypass came to be built.

For the Mid-Southern Tipping Group the Havant bypass provided the spur. Subsequently attempts by this group to obtain contracts for projects further afield have raised licensing problems.

The rivalry among groups should be capable of settlement. In the meantime their success runs parallel with the general movement towards the systematic planning of a continuous road programme.

elSIGNS APPARENT

Signs of what has been happening have been apparent during the past few months. The Minister of Transport, Mrs. Barbara Castle, has expressed her belief that a better use of engineering resources could be achieved by a greater concentration under unified control. She has asked local authorities for advice on a plan under which the engineering resources of the counties, which have normally acted separately as agents of the Ministry, would be re-deployed to form a small number of large planning and construction units, each to be responsible for major schemes in an area embracing several counties.

A different facet of the same problem is dealt with in the report of the working party set up by the Economic Development Committee for Civil Engineering under the chairmanship of Mr. J. A. Lofthouse to consider costs and productivity in road construction. The working party criticized the fragmented approach to the subject. There should be greater continuity of work, a limitation on the number of tenders and more standardization of design. The report had a number of other recommendations in the same strain.

Similar criticisms were made in the study of an extended road programme made for the British Road Federation by Mr. R. Moore and Mr. N. Pettinati. Their conclusion was that resources should not prevent a rapid expansion over the next decade "provided that the various firms concerned are assured of a steady flow of work". The tipping vehicle groups might be inclined to echo these words on their own behalf.

POINT EMPHASIZED Although neither the BRF study nor the EDC report specifically dealt with the supply of transport for road building there is no reason to suppose that their authors would have disagreed with the need for the kind of organization which the groups are now providing. The point will be emphasized if, as a result of the greater continuity envisaged in the Lofthouse report and given Government approval, contractors are encouraged to invest the considerable capital needed for machinery capable of speeding up the actual road building.

The efficiency of machines of this type is said to be so great that it is limited only by the rate at which the road materials arrive. It is at this point that road operators and the groups they are setting up could come into their own. A further development would also be encouraged. If there are to be larger construction units, and if the regular delivery of materials is to become a cardinal factor in the economics of road building, the contractors would need the services not only of one group for each project but of a whole network of groups.

In this way it will be possible to mobilize the resources of the road transport industry for a whole series of co-ordinated road building operations. The possibility is likely to be prominent in the discussions at the conference cf tipping groups to be held under the auspices of the Road Haulage Association during the first weekend in November.