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POLITICAL AND PARLIAMENTARY

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3rd May 1963

Page 13

Page 13, 3rd May 1963 — POLITICAL AND PARLIAMENTARY

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Minister Announces Licensing inquiry

1-I-i• setting-up of an independent nquiry into the licensing of road E haulage was announced this week by Mr. Marples. Opening a Commons debate on the Beeching Report he said that, if transport co-ordination was to develop, road transport had to operate in the right framework of control.

"We must get an informed view, of what part road transport will have to play in the transport pattern and how it cam be made to do so efficiently ", he said. " We propose to re-examine the fundamental basis and working of the licensing system for road goods transport. We intend to appoint an independent committee of inquiry to examine the • whole question of licensing road haulage and to make recommendations on what changes, if any, should be made.

" Having got the foundation—at least having got a report which will enable us to get the right size, shape and function of the railway system and which shows us Which way we arc going—we think that this is the right moment to inquire into road haulage, which has-not been looked at since 1933."

Dealing with buses, especially in rural • areas, the Minister recalled . that special , studies were going on In six areas. He said it was hoped that the results would he available by mid-summer, when he intended to make an announcement.

If the proposals in the Beeching Report were carried through, and the railways attracted all the freight they wanted from the roads, this would reduce total road traffic by 2 per cent, claimed Mr. Marples. One per cent would be added to road traffic from the closure of the passenger lines—less than two months' normal increase in road traffic,

-Each form of transport must be allowed and encouraged to develop itself technically, claimed Mr. Marples. It must be free to compete for and carry those goods which it was best suited to haul. But there must be co-ordination.

"There is an enormous and determined sw:ng to private transport, both freight and passenger", said Mr. Marples. "Any general transport policy on either side of thc House must take that into account. The Government are determined that transport policy must be ralated to national planning, growth, and the movement of industry and population."

For the Opposition, Mr. George Strauss said the Beeching Report could justifiably be read as a strong condemnat. on of past Conservative transport policy and a vindication of Labour's.

Opening the second day's debate, Mr. Harold Wilson said it was impossible to have an effective or viable transport system, or to avoid a degree of road congestion which would mean a total seizeup on Britain's roads before very long, if the number of C licences was to continue to expand indefinitely.

lie said various suggestions had been made for dealing with this problem. One suggested the refusal of a licence except on the basis of proof of need and the absence of alternative transport facilities.

"I have my reservations about a licensing system which gives a vested • position to everyone who has a licence at the time of the new system, while providing tougher tests for Potential newcomers ", he declared.

Some existing C-licence holders might be as uneconomic from the point of view of the nation as new applicants, he said.

With road economics as they were at present, transport managers were often able to persuade their board's finance directors to agree to a C-licence fleet— even to operate at a loss sometimes— because of the value of filling the roads with moving billboards advertising the firm's products. That was why some students of road-rail co-ordination considered that the problem could best be solved by stiffer charges for C licences. These were the sort of questions that a national transport survey and a national transport plan would have to solve.

• The Labour Party said that an essential step towards integration must be to expand the public sector of road goods haulage not only as a feeder service but as a natural road service by taking the artificial -ceiling -off the expansion of B.R.S. wherever it was economic and profitable for B.R.S. to expand. Equally, the plan must provide for the right distribution of traffic. between road and rail.

One essential part would be to make whatever changes were needed in A and B licensing regulations, including distance limits.

Stating that there must be a more direct attack on urban road congestion, the Opposition leader asked why the drivers of heavy lorries should not -be forbidden to use city and town centres except on proof of need.

He said that the Labour Government had achieved viability for the transport system which continued until the " wreckers " got at it after 1951. British Railways were still paying their way until 1953 despite the growth of road competition on a scale far exceeding prewar, especially with C licences.

The reason why publicly owned transport was still breaking even, under the Labour Government, even with the increase in road haulage was that of the lorries on the road 96,000 were publicly owned and their profits contributing to the national pool, It was the 1953 Act which destroyed the ability of British transport to pay its way.

Mr. Wilson pointed out that France had a system of fixing road and rail charges on the basis of the real cost of operation and said we could do the same and win through. But the Government would not try it—we were even subsidizing road haulage. It had been estimated that the 20-ton lorry was subsidized to the tune of £20 a week.

Replying to a claim by Mr. Wilson that road traffic in private hands would get the cream of the traffic, Mr. Marples asked how the Opposition leader would assess which private road haulage company had made a profit, or how he would take it away. Mr. Wilson had also said that he must have a system of sharing between road and rail and that it must be economic. Who was to decide that, asked the Minister. The consumer should have the choice of which way he sent his goods, either by road or rail.

Referring to buses, Mr. Marples said that the operators' provisional estimates of 700 more vehicles in addition to their present fleet of 93,000 was a once-for-all investment of about in m.

By 323 votes to 248 the House rejected the Opposition's suggestion that the Government should defer making decisions on major rail closures until a thorough survey of the nation's other transport services and facilities had been completed and a national transport plan devised.

When the Upper House looked at the Beeching report on Wednesday, Lord Morrison said he doubted whether the proposed -inquiry into road transport would be as merciless and thorough as the rail survey, or whether it would have transport. as a whole in view. But he spoke against a ,'general Labour view ,when he rejected the idea of transport as a social service; this could invite alarming -subsidies, an unlimited right to dip into the Treasury, and might have a bad effect on management efficiency. Specific grants in some cases might he right.

Replying, Lord Chesham said the Government did not accept everything in the Beeching plan;that would be well-nigh impossible and was highly undesirable.

Early Start

From Our Political Correspondent

AAR. t1,1-ARPLES is expected , to LVI announce the membership, terms of reference and time limit for the committee of investigation into goods vehicle licensing with a minimum of delay..

• Although Cabinet sources deny any great hurry, it is obvious that for policy reasons the Conservatives need to state their intentions quickly enough to have the position clear in time for a general election.

The I.abour Party has been studying licensing for some time. Liberals are not happy about the present system and even Conservatives like the Bow Group have been urging drastic reform.

There is no doubt that changes will be recommended—the last big inquiry into road haulage was 30 years ago— and the composition of the committee, although independent, will have to include members who are conversant with the problem because it is no issue for laynien alone.

The committee is expected to be small.

Its findings will almost certainly form the subject of discussions with the professional bodies involved before the Govern ment forms its decisions. • Meanwhile the R.H.A.'s licensing study group is making efforts to prepare its report for the executive this month.