Freight Transport * UK - Study: Policy needs a rethink

LCP Consulting, the UK's freight transport policy needs a new vision based on solid evidence 

London,EN,UK -Eyefortransport -Mar 28, 2011:  ...  Since 2000, five attempts to define the UK's integrated transport policy have failed to produce a robust policy approach to freight and logistics... The LCP Consulting Paper, UK Freight Transport: setting a coherent strategy and direction for 2020 and beyond, highlights the importance of freight and logistics and the nature of the challenge going forward... The work also identifies some significant omissions in current freight data that should influence future decision making and the development of freight policy:

* The work of more than one million vans and foreign-registered HGVs (which account for around 6% of the total distance travelled by lorries on British roads) are going unrecorded.

* Off-shoring of UK manufacturing and growth in global sourcing has distorted national statistics.

* A previous commitment to define freight flows by sector is not yet fulfilled.

The report's author, LCP Consulting's chairman Professor Alan Braithwaite, said: "Freight transport policy needs to clearly define the strategic priorities and provide guidance on future operating practices, but the data and modelling used to develop and determine policy will need to be significantly upgraded to inform public debate on the difficult policy choices ahead" ...(Photo from img3.photographersdirect: M25 " London orbital motorway " long queue of trucks gridlocked in traffic jam)