§ 2. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review existing powers to ban large and heavy vehicles from using inadequate roads.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Reginald Eyre)My right hon. Friend has recently issued a circular providing detailed advice and urging local authorities to make more extensive use of their very wide powers to control lorries.
We are determined to do everything practicable to check the growth in heavy lorry numbers and journeys, to control more effectively the vehicles themselves and where they go, to encourage rail freight, build more bypasses and strengthen enforcement of the regulations.
§ Mr. ChapmanI am grateful to my hon. Friend for that considered reply. Will he confirm that there is a need to encourage quieter, cleaner and safer heavy vehicles on our roads? As well as encouraging local authorites to exercise their powers, would my hon. Friend's Department be prepared to monitor lorry control schemes and to encourage, for example, the proposed scheme of 50 square miles in North London?
§ Mr. EyreI agree with the opening words of my hon. Friend's question. I assure him that we shall watch very closely the efforts made by the authorities to keep lorries out of environmentally sensitive areas. My right hon. Friend has promised to take lorry control policies into account in his 1983–84 TSG settlements.