§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken, and is proposing to take, to enable an accurate assessment of the total costs of all environmental impacts associated with road haulage; and what is his policy towards harmonising the relationship between vehicle weights and duty levels with other EC member states.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleAs I explained in my answer to the hon. Lady on 12 March,official Report, columns 769–70, a substantial research programme is required to develop reliable monetary values for environmental impacts. As a first step, we have let a research contract to attempt to derive monetary values for traffic nuisance experienced in the home. We expect a report in autumn 1994. As results emerge from this work, we shall decide on the possibility of valuing other environmental effects on traffic. Separate research is in hand to improve our general understanding of emissions from heavy goods vehicles.
Under the United Kingdom presidency last year, the EC Transport Council came close to agreeing proposals for a common structure and minimum rates of vehicle taxation for heavy goods vehicles, as part of wider package on taxing and charging such vehicles. Consideration of this package continued at the Council's meeting on 15 March. As with other taxation, the United Kingdom does not favour complete harmonisation, and it is evident from the discussions in the Council that in any case it could not be achieved in the foreseeable future.