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£5M DEPOT PLAN COULD MAKE BATH LORRY-FREE |
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Written by Jimbo
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Friday, 27 June 2008 |
A new delivery depot to keep heavy lorries out of the centre of Bath is being planned as part of a £5 million green initiative.
The scheme aims to learn lessons from a similar project in Bristol, where a depot at Avonmouth is used by city centre shops.
The depot would act as a central clearing house for deliveries to shops in the centre of Bath.
Goods would be delivered to shops in smaller - possibly low emission - vehicles from the depot.
A site for the facility - known as a freight transhipment depot - has not been revealed but is likely to be to the west of the city to maximise access to the M4 and Avon Ring Road.
The move would be a key part of a drive to keep HGVs out of the centre of the city, where there has long been concern over the impact of heavy lorries on sensitive streets and vaults.
The package of ideas to be funded by the EC cash will look at other steps to steer lorries away from the city centre, and comes after years of concern over the number of HGVs using Bath as a short-cut to and from the south coast.
Cllr Charles Gerrish (Con, Keynsham North), B &NES's cabinet member for transport, said the depot was likely to use smaller, electric vehicles adopting the Just in Time approach to get goods into shops.
Just in Time is the system used by major supermarkets to ensure that products spend as little time as possible in storage, and are delivered only when needed.
Cllr Gerrish said: "Such a vehicle will offer significant advantages for the city. Firstly, it will improve accessibility in Bath because the number of larger delivery vehicles in narrow city streets will reduce. Secondly, packaging from shops will be recycled upon return to the depot. Thirdly, the overall scheme will help improve air quality."
He added: "Hauliers will also benefit because it will save their vehicles considerable time. Wider concerns about HGV through-traffic will be tackled as part of other elements in the funding bid."
The Bristol/Avonmouth scheme involves 63 shops and has led to a 7,636 per year reduction in vehicle movements and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 22.5 tonnes a year.
A council report says the authority will eventually look at bringing in more restrictions on access to the centre of Bath, with steps such as rising bollards and road closures.
Its aim is to sign up 50 shops to begin with, with the total eventually rising to 50 per cent of stores, and to reduce overall HGV movement in the city centre by 35 per cent.
The report also says an eventual aim might be to completely eliminate delivery vehicles from the centre of Bath between 10am and 6pm.
Martin Tracy, of the Framing Workshop in Walcot Street, said the depot scheme was the only way forward: "I knew it was on the cards and this has to be the future.
"Car-borne traffic is far less of a problem than trucks. It takes about half an hour for a Waitrose lorry to go past my window in rush hour.
"You also see all the Asda lorries in the south of the city when there isn't one of their supermarkets for miles.
"Companies should think about sharing as well. I know Waitrose isn't likely to share lorries with Sainsbury's but I'm sure there are shops that could share instead of there being so many half-empty lorries on the street."
Source The Bath Chronicle |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 27 June 2008 )
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