Access to London
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WE CANNOT RECALL any public inquiry connected with road transport which has attracted more evidence than the one concerning the GLC's proposed heavy lorry ban. Derek Wood's eight colleagues were expected to report back to GLC around Easter. This is now looking less likely as the evidence piles up.
More than 1,000 members of the Freight Transport Association have submitted evidence pointing out the dangers associated with a ban on heavy goods vehicles in London. This is a tremendous response and it will surely persuade the committee that any ban would spell commercial disaster for London.
It seems to us that the inquiry might have more meaning if it spends enough time looking at the siting of commercial premises in London. The reason lorries enter London or any other city is because they are collecting or delivering goods.
Warehouses built at the beginning of the century for horse-drawn traffic are quite unsuited for today's goods vehicles. Stores in railway arches are equally out of date.
It is the town planners who have created the traffic jams, not the transport operators. Until the points of collection and delivery are resited, there will be a requirement for heavy lorries to enter our cities.
We expect this to be the conclusion at which the Wood Inquiry will arrive.