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ory Resolution Calls for ' Integration '

27th September 1963
Page 9
Page 9, 27th September 1963 — ory Resolution Calls for ' Integration '
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

FROM OCR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

IE Tory Party conference, to be held in Blackpool next month, could proan uncomfortable afternoon for Ernest Marples. Looking at some of resolutions on the agenda, a casual rver might be confused into thinking was looking at the Labour Party dule for Scarborough.

ut of the first 15 of the 25 transport .ons printed, seven express varying ees of concern about the Beeching ussals, two are critical of road trans, and one of them bluntly calls for ;ration s the Conservative Party tiptoes irds the general election, such manittions cannot be ignored--though Mr. .ples will no doubt find strength in the im that, about Beeching at least. only minority are giving voice.

he motion selected for discussion and reply from the Minister comes from ybridgc and Hyde and, while weleomthe Beeching Report, urges the srrnment to stress again: "that line or station will be closed unless c is an alternative, adequate and ient public transport service avail . .

his gentle resolution masks the more nacious ones on the agenda, .which ides one from Caerphilly urging an grated transport system to be insti d "at once ". This resolution also ; the Conference to state "that nigh increased road fund or other ttion on heavy road vehicles. unsuit; road merchandise would be forced k on to the railways ".

Lt the same time, it adds, long-distance companies should be called on to tribute more realistically towards the t of new motorways, thus providing er competition between road and rail senger transport.

tetty strong stuff. this. Integration higher taxation are two fundamental nts in Labour Party thinking just now. lorth-West Leeds Conservatives are weighing in with a barbed shaft at d transport, calling for a detailed iew of all internal public transport and the accountable annual loss sustained the railways to be "considered in the it of the vast and so far unaccountable t of the hidden subsidies received by d transport."

Spin, a complete review of the road ation to match the Beeching verdict railways is favoured by Labour. In lition, the payment by road transport its " social costs" is being pushed by many people, not all of them linked with the opposition parties.

The Beeching resolutions fall into two groups—those who arc all in favour, and the larger number who want the proposals to he implemented with humanity. proper respect for rural areas, and alongside, a greater push in road bulding.

A resolution from Louth feels that "co-operation, seemingly non-existent. between rail and road transport" should be instituted and enforced by the Minister. Skipton Conservatives think there can be no satisfactory long-term solution to transport problems until the system is examined as a whole and modernized on that basis.

The transport debate is timed for the afternoon of Wednesday, October 9.


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