Hauliers retain rights at Neasden truck site
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by Juliet Morrison • More than 50 small hauliers and owner-drivers have fought off local authority proposals to convert their operating centre into a site for travellers.
Last week councillors threw out plans to build amenity units on most of the 18-year-old truck park at Drury Lane in Neasden, north London (CM 22-28 Sept). The decision follows months of campaigning by the group, which won support from more than 800 local residents, a headmistress, Sir Rhodes Boyson MP, and the Road Haulage Association.
The move will protect the livelihoods of the truck operators and some coach owners. They faced losing their 0licences if they were unable to find an alternative base for their 145 commercial vehicles.
Haulier Brian Burgess, who has used the site for 16 years, found only one alternative operating centre, which would have cost him .£114,000 a year. He currently pays £645 a month to Burgess is delighted with the decision: "It was people power that won in the end— they felt overwhelmed."
Brent Council says the risk that businesses may have closed because of a lack of other suitable sites was a large influence on the decision: "The council isn't in the business of jeopardising successful commercial ventures," says its head of area planning John East. Had the conversion to a traveller site gone ahead the Road Haulage Association says "there would have been people out of business and many others without an operating centre".