Memorandum by the Freight Transport Association
(UWP 97)
PROPOSED URBAN WHITE PAPER
The Freight Transport Association notes that the
Committee has resolved to undertake an inquiry into what provisions
should be contained in the proposed Urban White Paper. In particular
we note that the Committee wishes to examine:
— which of the recommendations of the
Report of the Urban Task Force should be a priority for implementation;
and
— how policies for transport should
be integrated to foster urban regeneration.
The FTA is pleased to submit this Memorandum
for the Committee's consideration, and we will be happy to give
oral evidence to the Committee if invited.
FREIGHT TRANSPORT
ASSOCIATION
The FTA represents the freight transport interests
of industry in the UK; by road, rail, sea and air. FTA has about
12,000 members throughout the UK, ranging from sole traders to
the largest national and international corporations.
REPORT OF
THE URBAN
TASK FORCE
The Committee has invited views on which of
the recommendations of the Report of the Urban Task Force, "Towards
an Urban Renaissance" should be a priority for implementation.
FTA welcomed the Government's decision to set
up the Urban Task Force, and its brief to find out what has caused
urban decline in England and to recommend practical solutions
to turn our cities, towns and urban neighbourhoods into places
where people actively want to live, work and play.
In his Preface to the report the Deputy Prime
Minister says,
"The Urban Policy White Paper will set out
the framework which the Government is committed to developing
to ensure that towns and cities are not only competitive and prosperous,
but offer a good quality of life for everyone who lives there".
The sustained emphasis, in the Task Force's
brief, its report, and the Government's response is on people:
the aspiration to make our towns and cities places where people
want to live, work and play. FTA shares this aspiration. Our members,
representing all sectors of business and industry, deliver the
myriad of goods and services which people want—whether in
towns and cities or in rural communities. FTA's members generate
the economic activity which makes towns and cities competitive
and prosperous. But all this economic activity, the goods and
services demanded by people, living working and playing in our
urban areas, generates freight movement: the need to manufacture
and deliver those goods and services to the point of consumption:
urban distribution. FTA fully supports the Government's commitment
to policies promoting sustainable distribution, set out in its
White Paper A New Deal for Transport, and the daughter
document, Sustainable Distribution: A Strategy.
However, FTA is concerned that the Task Force
reports, Towards an Urban Renaissance, focuses exclusively
on people: aspirations for towns and cities which are competitive
and prosperous, where people want to live, work and play . . .
with no explicit recognition of the need for policies which will
promote efficient and sustainable urban distribution—essential
to the realisation of competitive and prosperous towns and cities.
On page 90 the report says:
"In Chapter 2 we set out the importance
of creating and sustaining a `permeable grid' in our towns and
cities. This describes a layout of buildings and spaces which
allows easy and efficient movement of both goods and people between
different places."
Disappointingly, Chapter 2 makes no reference
to the importance of easy and efficient movement of goods, nor
to the policies and measures necessary to achieve this.
FTA believes the Government's Urban White Paper
must redress this omission, and deal explicitly with freight transport,
within the context of sustainable urban distribution. In doing
so it should reflect the following key considerations.
A New Deal for Transport
The White Paper says (paras 1.7 and 2.17):
Congestion and unreliability of journeys add
to the costs of business, undermining competitiveness particularly
in our towns and cities where traffic is worst . . . on the busiest
roads in our towns and cities journey times in the rush hour could
lengthen dramatically by as much as 70 per cent over the next
20 years.
Sustainable Distribution: A Strategy
The White Paper daughter document says at para
2.1:
Efficient distribution of goods and services
has been one of the defining parameters of economic development
since the beginnings of civilisation. Distribution is critical
to security of supply, for the basic essentials of life such as
food, drink and shelter, as much as for luxury products. It determines
market diversity and consumer choice, and this drives competitiveness,
jobs and prosperity.
Para 3.18 says:
Lorries and vans are an essential economic lifeline,
whether in the centre of cities or in outlying areas of the countryside.
FREIGHT QUALITY
PARTNERSHIPS
The Government is promoting the development
of Freight Quality Partnerships as a key element in its sustainable
distribution polices. The aim will be (A New Deal for Transport,
para 3.170):
to develop understanding of distribution issues
and problems at the local level and to promote constructive solutions
which reconcile the need for access for goods and services with
local environmental and social concerns. This will build on existing
experience such as Delivering the Goods, a joint initiative on
urban distribution by the Local Government Association and the
Freight Transport Association.
The need for a more flexible approach by local
authorities to delivery hours is reflected in the Government's
draft revision of Planning Policy Guidance Note (PPG 13) on Transport.
Para 81 says:
Freight movements, particularly those serving
developments near to residential areas and in town centres, are
often restricted in their hours of operation, through the imposition
of conditions, because of concerns over disturbance to residents.
However, these restrictions can have the effect of exacerbating
congestion during peak times, increasing local pollution, and
discouraging further investment in central urban locations. Policies
need to strike a balance between the interests of local residents
and those of the wider community, including the need to protect
the vitality of urban economies, local employment opportunities
and the overall quality of life in towns and cities. Local authorities,
freight operators, businesses and developers should work together,
within the context of freight quality partnerships, to agree on
lorry routes and loading and unloading facilities and on reducing
vehicle emissions and vehicle and delivery noise levels, to enable
a more efficient and sustainable approach to deliveries in such
sensitive locations.
In pursuing the development of sustainable urban
distribution, FTA has published Friendly Deliveries—Environmental
Best Practice at the Delivery Point. This briefing note gives
practical advice to all operators involved in urban deliveries:
on minimising and where possible avoiding disturbance to local
residents when making deliveries.
FTA is currently developing Freight Quality
Partnerships with a number of local authorities. On 13 January
2000 a Freight Quality Partnership Memorandum was formally adopted
by the FTA, Hampshire County Council and Hampshire Economic Partnership.
The appendix to this Memorandum sets out the terms of the Partnership.
FTA believes that the common aspiration for efficient and sustainable
urban distribution, essential in the drive Towards an Urban Renaissance,
is best pursued by the development of similar Freight Quality
Partnerships by all local authorities.
SUMMARY
FTA welcomes the Task Force report, Towards
an Urban Renaissance shares its aspirations for our towns
and cities as places where people want to live, work and play.
FTA welcomes the Government's commitment to
ensuring that towns and cities are competitive and prosperous.
The Urban White Paper must recognise explicitly
the vital role which efficient and sustainable urban distribution
will play in achieving the Government's aims.
The Government's role in promoting Freight Quality
Partnerships between local authorities, industry and hauliers
offers an ideal mechanism for taking these issues forward: FTA
is already engaged in Freight Quality Partnerships with a number
of local authorities.
Re-affirmation of the Government's support for
such policies, and the need for active engagement by local authorities
should be reflected explicitly in the Urban White Paper.
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