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'The removal of permits will, effectively, destroy the London Lorry Ban.'

9th February 1995
Page 49
Page 49, 9th February 1995 — 'The removal of permits will, effectively, destroy the London Lorry Ban.'
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

6oinnrdeosn'snLoserrty

I

Banntr ufcreodm LLondoners whose lives were being made a misery by the constant running of LGVs.

A pond of inquiry was appointed in October 1981, under the chairmanship of Derek Wood QC, by the Greater London Council. As a result of its findings, the London Lorry Ban scheme came into effect in 1986. The ban prevents LGVs from driving within the exclusion area at night and at weekends except for Saturday mornings. Those vehicles with necessary business must obtain an exemption permit. The scheme needs to employ only five inspectors to check exemption permits and it works both efficiently and inexpensively. The Government claims it is concerned only with removing the necessity for permits, but their

; removal will, effectively, destroy the London Lorry Ban. As I have no shame in repeating, the bon literally transformed the lives of

E. millions of Londoners.

The questions posed by the Wood inquiry D are just as relevant to Londoners today. The ) 5 report defined five overriding reasons why people wanted lorries removed From their

streets. These were: noise and vibration; fumes and smoke; ohysical damage; congestion; and road sa-ety. The Wood inquirystated categorically from the evidence it received from thousands of Londoners: "People do not like heavy lorries, even if they live away from the route along which lorries mostly travel, and close proximity does not breed greater tolerance.. .The heavy lorry is regarded by many as an alien intruder."

The Wood inquiry found that traffic noise was especially great in London. A survey published in 1977 by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory established that traffic noise in London was substantially higher than elsewhere in England and 40% of the population of London were shown to be exposed to excessively high levels of noise both inside and outside their homes.

Vibration too is a problem. One of the points made to the Wood inquiry was the insult and injury felt by the citizens of London because of the damage inflicted on the local environment by heavy lorries—not only to pavements and roods, but to the fabric of their buildings. The London Boroughs Traffic Monitoring unit issued its first report last year and it makes alarming reading. The air in London is of dangerously poor breathing quality and is due to deteriorate further because of the vast increase in motorised traffic.

It used to be thought that LGVs that ran on diesel rather than on petrol—which we hope is now lead free—presented less of an environmentally polluting danger. However, an increasing body of medical and scientific opinion makes it clear that the fine particles from diesel engines are probably carcinogenic.The ban was imposed as a direct cry lives were help from the people of London whose were being made a misery by the heavy lorries that thundered along our roads. The Government should scrap any plans to scrap the Lorry Ban.

This article originally appeared in Capital Conservation, newsletter of the London Ecology' Unit.

Tags

Organisations: Greater London Council
People: Derek Wood
Locations: London

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