West Sussex to ban lorries from town centres

Grocer, March 25, 2006

Lorries are to be banned from delivering goods in town centres after a local authority's decision to push ahead with a delivery pooling scheme.

West Sussex County Council, which has been deciding whether to start up such a scheme in one of its towns since last September, has decided to include a pilot scheme in its ten-year Transport Plan, which will come into force next month. The council said that the scheme would aim to reduce the impact of heavy lorries in town centres by delivering items to an out-of-town location. Smaller vans would then pick up the goods and deliver them to participating retailers in the town centre.

A spokesman for the council said no details had been decided yet. It would now be inviting the private sector to take part in the scheme.