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Hauliers log off minor roads
Page 8
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As forestry booms in Scotland, timber hauliers have signed a deal to minimise the impact on rural communities. Guy Sheppard reports.
TIMBER TRUCKS are being banned from some roads in the Tayside region of Scotland to minimise their impact on local communities.
Councils, hauliers and forest owners have negotiated agreed routes because regional timber production is set to rise from 700,000 tonnes a year to 1.2 million tonnes by 2017.
Scottish Forestry Minister Allan Wilson says: "Hauling this extra timber from the forests to the mills is going to have an impact on rural roads, in particular on C and unclassified roads and on rural communities.
"This emphasises the need for early planning to avoid future problems," he adds. The region's roads are divided into four categories. "Agreed" routes have no restrictions; "consultation" routes may have weight or timing restrictions imposed; "severely restricted"routes can only
be used subject to an agreed management regime; and "excluded" routes must not be used. Charlie Taylor, chair of the Tayside limber Transport Liaison Group, says there are very few excluded routes, and most of them
are impassable for HGVs anyway.
"We've been in discussion about this map for the past 18 months," he adds."Generally it's been a very positive process for both forest managers and local authorities." However, Donald Morton, a
timber haulage contractor based at Auchterarder, near Dunblane, feels his sector is being discriminated against: "Nobody likes timber lorries, but a farmer carrying a load of fertiliser causes just as much damage."