Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

The Government's Response to the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's
20th Report

FREIGHT

Reducing reliance on freight transport

Initiatives which reduce the distances over which goods are transported are to be commended and we would like to see their wider adoption (5.6).

Promoting freight transport by rail and water

Overall the climate for increasing rail's share of freight transport seems to be good. Success will depend on a number of factors including:

  • the ability to provide a customer-friendly, customer-focused and flexible service
  • adequate investment in rolling stock, locomotives and certain parts of the infrastructure
  • good interchange facilities with other modes
  • co-operation with the operators of other modes so that journeys are 'seamless'
  • competitive pricing
  • brokering of freight capacity to low-volume customers (5.12).

Key routes...would need gauge enhancement works to facilitate piggyback operations between the UK and mainland Europe. If such investment is justified on economic and environmental grounds, we consider that the Government should take the initiative to promote it and to help finance it (5.19).

As the transfer of freight from road to rail brings such clear benefits in environmental terms, through freight services should be given priority over other traffic if any issue arises at a future date about the best use of the [Channel] Tunnel's capacity (5.20).

The take-up of [Freight Facilities Grants] must be improved as part of the package of measures needed to encourage transfer of goods to rail and water. We are encouraged to learn that DETR has plans to re-launch the grant regime and that this will include improved marketing (5.18).

  1. An efficient transport system is needed to support a strong and prosperous economy. The New Deal for Transport provides the basis for a reliable and efficient transport system to support prosperity but in a way that reduces the extent to which a healthier economy results in high levels of road traffic growth. The Government will shortly be issuing a paper on sustainable distribution which will recognise that road haulage will continue to be the dominant mode, but that it can be more efficiently and sustainably operated. But the Government wants to see more viable alternatives for freight shippers, and an increase in the use of rail freight, inland waterways and coastal shipping. The New Deal for Transport has set the framework for:
  1. The Government believes that more freight can be moved by rail, relieving pressure on the road network and bringing environmental benefits. The main rail freight operator, English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), has an aspirational target of doubling its traffic measured by tonne-kilometres over five years and tripling it over ten. Freightliner, which specialises in the haulage of containers between deep-sea ports and inland terminals, aims to increase the volume of containers carried by 50% over five years. The Government has endorsed these targets and will ask the Strategic Rail Authority to develop targets for both the freight and passenger railway in order to secure the maximum benefit overall from the rail network.
  2. The Government has already made a start to create the right conditions for the revival of rail freight. Expenditure on freight grants has been more than doubled and arrangements have been negotiated with the French Government and Eurotunnel to ease access of rail freight through the Channel Tunnel and beyond. The Government's concordat with the Rail Regulator emphasises the importance of promoting rail freight; the Regulator has secured the creation of extra rail freight capacity on the West Coast Main Line as part of his consideration of plans for a major passenger upgrade.
  3. Revised planning guidance will be issued to facilitate more freight to be moved by rail and water. In preparing development plans, local authorities will be expected to consider, and where appropriate protect, opportunities for rail connections to existing manufacturing, distribution and warehousing sites adjacent or close to the rail network and allocate sites for suitable new developments which can be served by rail or waterways.
  4. The Government is committed to looking at the contribution that inter-modal freight terminals and 'piggy-back' style operations (i.e. where lorry trailers are carried on rail wagons) could make to increasing rail freight's share of the market. Such developments would require significant commitment from the private sector in terms of investment in infrastructure and operations. Applications from Railtrack and others for additional public investment will be considered on a case by case basis.
  5. The Government will bring forward legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows to extend the application of the freight grant regime to include coastal and short sea shipping, and will consult on the details, including the costs which would be eligible for grant and the criteria to be used in assessing applications. It will also encourage greater use of inland waterways, where that is a practical and economic option. The rules of the freight grant regime will be re-examined with a view to encouraging more applications for inland waterways projects.

Heavy goods vehicles

The trend towards heavier and heavier goods vehicles is inconsistent with the objective of reducing the dominance of lorries in order to improve the quality of life and it is desirable on environmental grounds that the heaviest lorries should be permitted only on suitable roads (5.22).

The programme of strengthening bridges to carry 40-tonne lorries should be scaled down to the minimum necessary to provide a basic network giving such lorries access to main distribution centres.... We believe that where bridge strengthening is required to take heavier lorries, their operators should make a greater contribution towards the cost of this than that from their present contribution through general taxation (5.23).

We believe that still not enough has been done to explore the development of [breaking loads down into smaller vehicles for part of the journey] and commend its further consideration, particularly where it would be possible to run the smaller vehicles on alternative and less polluting fuels (5.24).

A vignette should be introduced for use of British motorways by heavy goods vehicles of more than 12 tonnes (6.23).

  1. The Government will be obliged from 1 January next year to conform with EU law by raising the maximum axle weight for lorries on international journeys from 10.5 to 11.5 tonnes and increasing the maximum gross weight of 5 axle articulated lorries from 38 to 40 tonnes. As it would be very difficult in practice to distinguish national from international journeys in a way which is both fair and efficient, the Government will allow such vehicles for both domestic and international journeys on UK roads. The necessary legal changes will be brought forward shortly.
  2. Bridges are being strengthened on motorways and trunk roads to take the heaviest lorries. Local authorities are concentrating on bridges on strategic routes and, where necessary, some bridges will have weight restrictions. The increased axle loading will cause greater road and bridge wear, and road maintenance is already a substantial burden on the taxpayer. It is important that the Government does all that it can to minimise the damage caused by heavier axle weights.
  3. The Government is therefore developing a strategy to provide hauliers with incentives to make greater use of 6 axle lorries instead of 5 axle ones. 6 axle lorries are less damaging to roads and bridges because the extra axle allows the weight to be spread more evenly. But the load they can carry is less because the extra axle weighs about a tonne and the lorries are more expensive, making them less attractive to hauliers. The review of the basis of lorry VED will form part of the strategy by ensuring that the environmental damage, including to roads, caused by different types of lorries is reflected in their VED rates. The Government will also allow 41 tonne gross weight lorries, on 6 axles and with road friendly suspension, on UK roads from 1 January 1999. These lorries will have to meet the same requirements as 38 and 40 tonne lorries for braking, noise and pollution.
  4. In preparing the New Deal for Transport, the Government also considered whether to go further and allow for general use the 44 tonne 6 axle lorry which was recommended by Sir Arthur Armitage in 1980, and which has been used for combined road/rail transport in the UK since 1994. However, a significant disadvantage of allowing 44 tonne lorries for general use is the risk that this could, in some situations, provide an incentive to switch freight from rail to road. One of the key objectives of the White Paper is to encourage rail freight as a way of reducing pollution and congestion. Rail freight has benefited from the existing weight concession for combined road/rail movements and there is a risk that some existing or future rail freight would transfer to road if 44 tonne lorries were allowed for general use.
  5. The Government believes that an immediate move to 44 tonne lorries could prejudice its objective of giving industry a realistic and increasingly attractive alternative to road haulage. It will therefore ask the Commission for Integrated Transport to consider the case for allowing 44 tonne lorries, on 6 axles, for general use, in the light of the results of the review of the basis of lorry VED rates and evidence from interested parties including the rail freight operators and industry generally. The Government will ask the Commission to consider the best solution consistent with the New Deal for Transport; in particular, whether there are measures that could be adopted to mitigate the potential impact on rail freight, including phasing of the introduction of 44 tonne lorries to allow more time for rail operators to expand their markets. The Government will also ask the Commission to consider whether there is scope for limiting any extension to 44 tonnes to lorries with the highest standards of emissions. The Government does not envisage the implementation of 44 tonne lorries before 2003; the intention is to give railways the chance to develop the heavy load market.
  6. The Government has considered a compulsory routing scheme to confine heavier lorries to certain roads. It has concluded that there would be substantial difficulties which would outweigh the advantages and that there are alternatives to a compulsory route network. As set out in its White Paper, the Government will promote the development of Quality Partnerships for freight between the road haulage industry, local authorities and business, to promote solutions which reconcile the need for access for goods and services with local environmental and social concerns. The Government agrees with those concerned about the problem of 'rat-running' by large lorries and has made it clear in the New Deal for Transport that lorries should not travel on unsuitable roads unless they have to use them for collection or delivery. There is an established network of primary routes which lorry routing should follow, and this is publicised by the industry's own 'Well Driven' scheme, providing a mechanism for people to complain about insensitive or irresponsible behaviour by lorry and van operators and drivers, including rat-running on unsuitable roads.
  7. Bringing forward strategies to keep lorries away from unsuitable areas will be a critical issue for local authorities in preparing their local transport plans. Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, local authorities already have powers to prohibit or restrict lorry access. The Government will look at ways of improving and streamlining these arrangements.
  8. The Government agrees that there may be scope for reducing the number of lorry and van movements by promoting greater consolidation of loads and drawing from the experience of 'City Logistics' systems where goods destined for city centres are diverted into common transhipment facilities with local distribution being carried out using specialised vehicles which may be smaller, quieter and less polluting. The Government intends to learn from the experiences gained in Europe from operating such systems.
  9. Finally, the Government believes that any new tax should be proportionate in its impact and cost-effective to administer and enforce. A paper-based vignette system - unless it was sophisticated (and therefore complicated) - would add very little to the financial incentives already provided by fuel duty. It would also be costly to administer in relation to the likely revenue-raising potential and difficult to enforce. The Government agrees on the importance of ensuring a level playing field between UK-registered and foreign hauliers, but, in pursuing it account needs to be taken of all the taxes that hauliers face, and not just the transport taxes.

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Published 23 December 1998
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