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The Chance of a Lifetime

7th March 1952, Page 27
7th March 1952
Page 27
Page 28
Page 27, 7th March 1952 — The Chance of a Lifetime
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE second reading, last week, of the Town Development Bill again brings into focus the difficult transport problems which the unregulated or misguided spread of urban areas has caused. The object of the Bill is to provide for the accommodation in other areas of the surplus populations of large cities by orderly and friendly arrangements with neighbouring authorities. According to Mr. Harold Macmillan, Minister of Housing and Local Government, it is founded on the basic principle that "not merely should a population be exported, hut that its industry should be taken with it or fresh industry attracted, so that the new organism may be a ballanced and healthy creation capable of varied life and employment."

it is a worthy ideal and will be supported by operators of road passenger transport. Past efforts to relieve overcrowding by developing dormitory areas have, in Mr. Macmillan's words, "involved immense transport problems" and caused almost as many new social difficulties as they sought to cure. They have brought about the need for long bus routes with unbalanced loading and acute, wasteful peaks, which have reflected themselves in high operating costs and a relatively high level of fares. They have caused intense overcrowding oftravel facilities and have impaired industrial efficiency.

Consult the Experts The creation of new towns, each self-supporting in its industry, commerce and recreational amenities, will help to remedy the follies of the past and, provided that transport undertakings are consulted during the earliest stage of planning, will lift a heavy economic burden from the shoulders of urban communities. Early consultation is, however, essential. Bus operators do not expect towns to be designed for their special convenience, but as the suppliers of a vital public service, their views on the layout of towns for economy and safety in transport should receive earnest consideration.

This point was stressed by Mr. D. McKenna, commercial manager of the London Transport Executive,. in a recent address to the Industrial Transport Association. He emphasized the advantages of the "cartwheel" layout, with the town centre at the hub and neighbourhood units straddling the radial roads that form the spokes. New Delhi is based on the radial plan and there are few more pleasant cities.

It is important that bus services radiating from the town centre should pass through the neighbourhood units, and not skirt them, so that the buses intended primarily to take the inhabitants of the units to and from the town centre are able also to deal with local traffic. Routes must also be direct, so that passengers do not have to pay for waste mileage.

Breach of Faith To prohibit buses from entering the town centre would be a breach of faith with the people for whom the new town was built. The very title, " public service vehicle," gives the bus the right to priority over private cars. Moreover, in the interests of economy in mileage, buses should be garaged close to the centre, preferably in a build-b ing adjacent to the main bus station. There are already many examples of stations and garages that are architecturally pleasing as well as functionally efficient, and the accommodation of buses near the town centre should not interfere with its amenities.

Three years ago "'The Commercial Motor " made detailed analyses of the potentialities of transport in the projected new towns of Stevenage, Harlow, Crawley, Hemel Hempstead, Peterlee and Aycliffe. These showed that the industrial zones were to be concentrated near the railway.

There are good reasons for doing so, but any grouping of factories in one area is bound to create• once again the difficult peaks of traffic which are such an undesirable feature of unplanned cities or large towns with dormitory districts. The unbalanced loading of passenger services that makes for uneconomic working and unnecessarily high fares will once more he reproduced. This disadvantage could be overcome by laying out two industrial sites, on opposite sides of the town, so that movements of peak traffic tended to balance one another. One of the greatest difficulties in stage-carriage operation is the transport of large numbers of school children at times when commercial and industrial traffic is at its heaviest. There is little staggering of schools hours and no co-operation between educational authorities and the business community. The new towns present the opportunity of siting schools so that the main direction of movement of their peak traffic is against that of workers.

The transfer of population and industry from one area to another will have a profound effect on goods traffic, As "The Commercial Motor" pointed out three years ago, the planners of the new towns have completely ignored the need for central road goods terminals in which smalls traffic could be sorted and routed to avoid wasted mileage. Even more important is the provision of adequate road haulage services, as distinct from terminal facilities Shortage of Haulage?

Hauliers in " exporting" areas will lose business, whilst those in reception areas will gain it. Under present conditions there is a risk that new towns, set up in predominantly agricultural country, will be short of haulage facilities, Because of the 25-mile limit, operators in " exporting " areas may be unable to follow their customers into their new homes and hauliers near the sites of the new towns may be unable to deal with heavy industrial traffic.

The planning of new towns calls for a. broad outlook on transport, both domestic and interurban. So long as free hauliers are restricted in radius, efforts to establish industry in new centres Will be crippled. Mr. Macmillan will have to work, in close association with Mr. J. S. Maclay, Minister of Transport. if his hopes of relieving congestion in overcrowded cities are to be rewarded.

How Can Inventors be Encouraged

THE president of The Society of Engineers pointed out recently that during wars there was much encouragement of inventors, but that in normal times, incentives were missing.

What can be done at other times to stimulate the development of inventions which may prove of considerable value to industry and conse quently to our trade, both at home and overseas'? Many concerns have inaugurated schemes by which persons in their employ receive reasonable sums of money for suggestions which prove of value, but these are mostly in connection with the expediting of production, facilitating handling and other ideas appertaining to branches of industry in which those who submit them are engaged.

This is good, but great inventions have come from individuals not so engaged, and seldom do they receive encouragement or adequate reward for their pains. At present we are rearming and it is quite possible that people not directly concerned with this have ideas for which they canr;)t find an outlet but which might prove of value Much the same applies to other novelties not connected with this particular activity.

It seems that the situation demands in the one case, a Government committee, and in the other a general committee acting for the whole of trade and industry, with sub-committees to cover every branch, to which inventors could submit their ideas either after these are protected or, in confidence, before steps have been taken in this direction.

In the latter case, many would be saved time and expense if their efforts proved futile. On the other hand, encouragement, financial and from the point of view of manufacture, could be given where deserved.


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