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Changed • weight limits for licensing
Page 36
Page 37
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from our political correspondent
• Mrs. Castle has clarified her definition of a small goods vehicle which, under the terms of the Transport Bill, will be freed from carrier's licensing. She has also altered the basis upon which the weight of an articulated outfit will be determined in specifying vehicles that will be within the scope of quantity licensing—a move which will bring some hitherto unaffected vehicles within the scope of the 100-mile limit, though equally others may now escape. The 30cwt unladen definition still stands as a dividing line for vehicles excluded from carrier's licensing but it becomes more of a "fall-back" definition and instead the main dividing line will be a plated gross weight of 3+ tons. The definition includes "combinations" and artics aggregating these weights. The. Conservatives have tabled amendments seeking to lift the plated weight to 4 tons, • in line with their proposal to hoist the unladen weight of licence-free vehicles from 30cwt to two tons.
In an amendment to Clause 67, defining the vehicles affected by quantity licensing, the Ministry has replaced the plated gross train weight of "over 16 tons" with a combination of the unladen weight of the tractive unit and the gross plated weight of the semi-trailer (see p.40).
Estimates published last week show that the Ministry of Transport expects to get a £2m income boost from the testing and plating of heavy goods vehicles in the coming year.
Ministry receipts from the licensing and testing of h.g.v. drivers will bring in another £550,000 and receipts from the licensing of buses and goods vehicles will yield a further £2,200,000.
Because the first two sets of receipts are new, the Ministry's central estimates are nearly £2-1-m lower than last year, but the cost of the testing schemes, estimated at £265,000 (on top of last year's £233,000) will have to be borne on the Ministry's other votes.
Road spending in England is expected to go up by nearly £22m. Among schemes costing more than £5m authorized for the coming year are the Aston to Leeds section of Ml; the Midland motorway links from south of Quinton to Great Barr and from Castle Bromwich to Catthorpe; the Strensham to Eastington section of M5; the Lancaster by-pass to Penrith by-pass sections of M6; the Horwich link to Preston by-pass section of M61; the Worsley to Moss Moor section of the LancashireYorkshire motorway, and further stages of the Durham motorway.
The second Mersey Tunnel will be taken past the halfway mark with a further £6m loan, and the West Cross route out of London (stage one) will be taken a stage further with another £6,300,000 for the Western Avenue extension.