FREIGHT TRANSPORT (14165/07, 14175/07,
14205/07, 14266/07, 14277/07)
Letter from the Chairman to Jim Fitzpatrick
MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Transport
Thank you for your Explanatory Memoranda dated
15 November 2007 which Sub-Committee B considered at
its meeting on 26 November 2007.
We are content to clear these documents from
scrutiny. However, we would be grateful if you could clarify the
Government's position with regard to the proposal for increasing
the dimensions of road vehicles, referred to in your EM on the
Commission's Communication on the Freight Transport Logistics
Action Plan (14266/07).
29 November 2007
Letter from Jim Fitzpatrick MP to the
Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 29 November
in response to our Explanatory Memorandum (EM) of 15 November,
which cleared the document from scrutiny but asked for clarification
of the Government's position with regard to the proposal for increasing
the dimensions of road vehicles referred to in the EM.
I welcome your Committee's interest in vehicle
dimensions. Committee members may be aware of an article on "super"
lorries in The Times newspaper on 26 November which
stated that the Government is considering trials of longer and
heavier vehicles. This is not the case. The Government is sceptical
of potential use for "super" lorries and has no plans
to permit them in the UK. However, we do have a desk study looking
at what the combined effects on safety, the environment, and the
efficiency of freight transport, including the effects on modes
other than road transport, might be if these vehicles were to
be permitted. The work should soon be completed and published
by the end of February, and will inform the UK position ahead
of any Commission proposal.
As stated in the EM, we are concerned about
the Commission's intention to study the options for a review of
the Directive on the weights and dimensions of vehicles, and we
are not convinced of the need or practicality of any significant
increase in road vehicle dimensions. We will therefore endeavour
to ensure that the Commission undertake a full impact assessment
similar in scope to our own study; and, as we know this issue
is a concern for several Member States, we will discuss with them
how a satisfactory outcome might best be achieved.
17 December 2007
|
