Rat-run hauliers fall into LEZ trap

Adam Hewitt • Published 4 Mar 2010 15:00 2 Comments

Share this

TRANSPORT bosses say hauliers should stop using Reading as a rat-run rather than moaning about the planned Low Emissions Zone.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) says the £50 charge for polluting lorries using the IDR will hit its members hard.

Gordon Telling, FTA's head of Urban Logistics Policy, is meeting council officials tomorrow (Friday) and told The Chronicle he had "serious concerns".

He said: "There are, frankly, better ways to improve air quality and reduce congestion, which don't require squandering a large chunk of taxpayers' money. Quiet night-time deliveries and the subsidising of cleaner, greener engine upgrades, for instance, are proven to be highly-effective ways to mitigate the impact of commercial deliveries in our urban areas."

But borough transport leader Cllr Tony Page said: "The FTA would be better off encouraging its members who use Reading as a shortcut to stick to the motorway network and not use Reading to ratrun from one motorway to another.

"There has been a lot of consultation at the heart of the work that has gone into this. But they must recognise that a substantial number of polluting lorries come through Reading and the LEZ is part of addressing that. Many of these lorries come through Reading, not even stopping for a cup of tea or coffee - they should be on the motorway or A-road network."

Paul White, who founded Reading haulage firm QTR Transport in Cardiff Road, has written to Cllr Page warning that the LEZ will have a "huge impact" on his business.

Reading's head of transport Pat Baxter, transport planning manager Ruth Leuillette and consultant Scott Witchalls spent months working on the £59m first phase of the Transport Innovation Fund (Tif) bid - being renamed the Urban Challenge Fund bid - and say the case for the LEZ is watertight.

Their research shows that of the 4,594 lorries crossing the proposed LEZ boundaries on an average day, 2,234 would fail to meet the required Euro V emissions standards and would have to change their route to avoid paying.

Another 1,797 would meet the standards and so not bother

re-routing, and 563 lorries would not meet the standards but be unable or unwilling to re-route and so pay the £50 charge.

They say their LEZ revenue estimates are "conservative", because many hauliers would upgrade their fleets to meet the emissions standards or use their most eco-friendly vehicles for routes through Reading.

If the Tif bid is successful under the new Urban Challenge Fund process, the LEZ could come in by the end of next year, alongside more than £50m for major public transport projects.

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

Howard Thomas
Unregistered User
Mar 5, 20:20
Report comment

If Pat Baxter says that the case for the LEZ is "watertight", then it quite clearly is not, based on her history of getting things completely wrong.The TIF bid and the LEZ is the fore runner of congestion charging which is planned to start in 2016. This is what RBC's continual policy of messing up the road system in Reading is all about....... create enough congestion and then you can charge it for being there! Nobody could get it so wrong ,so often for any other reason.

Recommend? Yes 0 No 0
Mischievous
Unregistered User
Mar 6, 14:26
Report comment

Council exposed or what? So there is no TIF; what a surprise! So who has duped whom? Did the DfT dupe Cllr Page and Pat Baxter, or has Cllr Page and Pat Baxter duped the town and surrounding Boroughs? Or was it some foil to bring in LEZ. Cannot wait for the next instalment! This has all the hallmarks of transport planning incompetence. Remember the one-way IDR? And how much have we spent on TIF? What is for certain is that LEZ is not good for the economy, not good for the freedom of the people and not good for the environment. No wonder the Council kept it quiet from industry and the people. I wonder what alternative travel is on offer. Of course, Buses – the bio-ethanol fiasco and jewel in town's green credentials; how silly of me? What the Councillor is really saying is that we have no green credentials, but plenty of spin.

Recommend? Yes 0 No 0

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @rdgchronicle