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The Games plan

5th April 2012, Page 13
5th April 2012
Page 13
Page 14
Page 13, 5th April 2012 — The Games plan
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Last month operators visited Olympic venue Wembley for the latest advice on delivering this summer during the world’s largest sports event

Words: Chris Druce / Images: Tom Lee

IN JUST OVER THREE months’ time the opening ceremony of London 2012 will signal the start of the Olympic Games, when athletes from around the globe will pit themselves against each other in the ultimate sporting challenge.

Those moving freight by road during the period will face their own challenges. A plethora of road and delivery restrictions means operators have seemingly as many hurdles to negotiate as Sally Gunnell did on her way to gold in Barcelona in 1992.

Gunnell was on hand at CM’s Summer Freight Planning Conference (22 March), run in partnership with Transport for London (TfL), to remind delegates that host country status is an exciting opportunity. However, hauliers’ fears

and frustrations about the Games haven’t sprung from a lack of patriotic fever, but from the paucity of detailed information available from organisers.

“A year ago, we had more questions than answers,” Natalie Chapman, head of policy for London at the Freight Transport Association, told delegates during a Q&A session.

Legacy

It was a statement rather than a criticism. Nevertheless, it chimed with the commonly held view that the needs of the road transport sector have been underestimated from the start.

That has changed. While the buzzword around London 2012 has been legacy, it is inally becoming something tangible for the road transport industry too.

Steve Benton, programme director for transport and mobility at London Councils, conirmed the London Lorry Control Scheme (LLCS) would remain in place during the Games. Designed to stop 18-tonne and above lorries using London as a cut-through, trade bodies have pushed for an exemption during such a constrained period. While this has not been granted, Benton revealed that a Games period permission had been created, speciically for hauliers that aren’t signed up to the free LLCS, but will need to work in London during the Games period.

He also pleaded with existing scheme members to contact him and his team about any last-minute route changes they are forced to make.

Don Cannon, major projects interface manager at the Olympic Delivery Authority, warned operators it would not be plain sailing outside London during the competition period. Eton Dorney and Weymouth and Portland, host to water sports and sailing events throughout the Games, will be congestion hot spots, as both have a single road in and are constrained by their geography. The weather will also play a part in disrupting event timings. Both venues are linked by the Olympic Route Network to the capital.

Operators must also be aware of the Torch Relay, which has been described as a “moving roadblock” and will start its 70-day progress around the UK on 18 May. Cannon said the Torch will take about 12 minutes to pass speciic points on its route – with access restored soon after – but numerous events marking its progress will cause knock-on congestion.

The fast track

Sarah Bell, trafic commissioner (TC) for the western trafic area and lead TC for the Olympics, said changes had been made to introduce a fast-track O-licence, speciically for temporary changes required during the Olympics. “It is not in place of poor planning. This has got to be a last resort,” she said.

The fast-track process will allow operators to forgo the usual advertising requirements for varying their licence. This process normally takes about nine weeks, which would have meant any operators picking up last-minute work connected with the Olympics would have been stuck.

Details of the fast-track system were due to be published on the TC’s page on the DfT website as CM went to press.

Bell also urged hauliers with multiple sites to look at current O-licence rules. There is a provision for hauliers to use an operating centre in another trafic area for three months without a licence in that area. Subject to conditions, and at the discretion of the area’s TC, this might allow additional Games work to be taken on. “Make sure you inform VOSA and the Centralised Licensing Unit in Leeds [if you do this],” Bell warned.

Meanwhile, TfL plans to launch its free Freight Journey Planner from May, developed by consultancy Pie. It will help negotiate road restrictions such as the 98 vehicle permit checkpoints that will be in place around the UK.

Mark Bland, from the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, said the checkpoints will help redirect non-Games trafic away from venues to avoid tailbacks at the security stops surrounding the 28 venues.

To avoid delay, Bland urged operators to ensure their drivers have a delivery note (which could be in the form of a text); headed company paper, including contact details; and a photo-card driving licence to help checkpoint stewards identify them. n ● For more information, go to www.getaheadofthegames.com and www.london2012.com/olympictorch-relay

FINE TIME

After much confusion, transport secretary Justine Greening has decided that penalty charge notices in London will not be raised (a £200 limit had been expected) during the Games, but will remain at their current maximum levels – £130 for the top tier of fines.

BUILDING A LEGACY

TfL commissioner Peter Hendy spoke as an advocate for the industry, not an opponent. “If we do our job well this summer, we can establish a better way of working and change outof-date views on freight,” he said.

Hendy was making the case that for all the challenges the Games will bring, they are also an opportunity; freight’s needs are consequently being taken more seriously. The need to work together has resurrected lines of communication between the sector and authorities, according to Chrys Rampley, manager of busi ness affairs at the Road Haulage Association.

One potential legacy issue after the Games is greater flexibility for operators to conduct out-of-hours deliveries. Hendy, conscious that 17% of traffic coming into the capital each day is freight, urged delegates to adopt TfL’s Quiet Delivery Code of Practice. The code pulls together best practice from DfT trials and work conducted by TfL and its partners.

Hauliers face delivery restrictions on London’s 109-mile Olympic Route Network during the Games, with a midnight to 6am delivery window to contend with. However, Lisa Lavia, MD of the Noise Abatement Society, told delegates that changing driver behaviour can make a huge difference to residents’ perception of noise and the number of complaints.

Ian Wainwright, road freight programme manager at TfL, said plans are under way in conjunction with London Councils to produce a contacts list for all 33 London boroughs to enable operators to get in touch. “Talk to the boroughs. They will work with you,” he said. www.tン.gov.uk/2012freight


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