HC Deb 27 November 1978 vol 959 cc93-4W
Mr. Cowans

asked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make a statement on road and rail matters discussed at the Council of Transport Ministers of the European Community which met on 23rd-24th November 1978.

Mr. William Rodgers:

The Council had before it a number of proposals of importance to the United Kingdom. Agreement was reached on only two, a proposal to increase the Community quota of permits for lorries by 10 per cent. and a proposal to make permanent the rules freeing certain types of combined road and rail transport from international road haulage permit and quota requirements.

I blocked progress on a proposal for an EEC driving licence which would have enabled drivers from member States to drive in the United Kingdom without taking our more stringent tests. Subject to the views of Parliament, there may be room for agreement on a proposal limited to licences for driving cars and motorcycles where differences in testing standards are less significant. But I could not accept the risk to road safety involved in relaxing standards for lorries and buses.

I also reserve the United Kingdom's position on a proposal for standardising maximum dimensions for heavy lorries. This would have increased the maximum length allowed in the United Kingdom. We have for some years pressed for higher standards on environmental aspects of heavy lorries. It is important that any proposals for increasing vehicle dimensions is looked at in this context.

The Council also discussed a draft regulation to provide financial aid for transport infrastructure projects of interest to the Community. I welcomed the attention being given to this subject, which might affect progress on such projects as the Channel tunnel, but there were too many uncertainties about the scope of the proposal for any agreement to be reached. The Council invited the Commission to report by 1st January 1980 on bottlenecks in transport infrastructure and on the various possible modes of finance and, together with the committee of officials set up under the Council's decision of December 1977, to evolve criteria for evaluating projects. It also instructed the Permanent Representatives' Committee to continue its examination of the proposals.

Finally, the Council again failed to reach agreement on the proposed directive on the adjustment of national taxation for commercial vehicles—usually referred to as ANTS—which has been under consideration for over 10 years and which is very much in line with the Government's own policy as set out in the 1976 White Paper on transport policy (Cmnd. 6836).