WHY DEVON?
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It's not the first county you would suspect of being a pollution hotspot, but that's partly the reason why Mid Devon District Council is next to roll out ESFRS: it wants to remain a rural idyll in people's minds.
Simon Newcombe, lead officer for environmental protection at the council, says there are two areas in the region that have air quality management issues and locally-based haulage companies are part of the problem.
He says the council will register its own fleet of HGVs in the scheme, the funding it has received has been ringfenced, and that it has attracted "a high level of political support".
Alan Hastings, MD at Chesterfield-based Hastings Freight, says ESFRS is flexible enough to work in rural or urban areas. It could work anywhere in the world," he says. "There's no reason why not, it's not a regional thing at all."