Showing posts with label HGVs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HGVs. Show all posts

Sunday, 7 July 2024

Anger as Aggregate Industries cuts hauliers’ rates

According to Motor Transport magazine, Aggregate Industries has blamed "extremely challenging" trading conditions for its decision to cut rates for hauliers: 
Hauliers working for Aggregate Industries (AI) have reacted with fury at a move by the company to chop its rates by 1.77% after blaming “extremely challenging” trading conditions. 
In a letter to its franchised hauliers, AI said they needed to accept “the reality of a weakening construction market” and so it was taking the difficult decision to cut its rates. 
It said fuel prices had decreased and therefore tipper haulage rates on standard work would be reduced by 0.52%. 
But AI also said it was cutting the rate by an additional 1.25% to reflect the current trading environment. 
“We will aggressively target utilisation improvements to help reduce the impact of the rate changes,” the letter said. 
“When the market dynamic shifts towards a more positive outlook, we will actively review this specific change.” 
However, hauliers have told Motor Transport that AI is doing the opposite of other companies in the sector: “I think they’re just greedy,” said one, who asked to remain anonymous. 
“Work has got quieter, but it only seems to be for them. Breedon have put their rates up by 3.91%. 
“People can’t run trucks with what they are asking us to do; like the spec on all our wagons. 
“You need one truck and two drivers and you need to work them day and night and that’s it, or it will never pay.” 
Another haulier, Roger Foster, said he’d pulled his trucks off AI work in the west of England when he received the letter: “I think it stinks,” he said. “There is work! I’ve heard they’ve got lorries coming from Manchester covering the work because we are not doing it. 
“No-one else is cutting the rate. I think there’s plenty of work out there.” 
An AI spokesman said: “We recently communicated to our franchised hauliers who serve our aggregates and asphalt business in respect of our standard rates. 
“We regularly review these rates against fluctuating fuel costs and adjust them accordingly. 
“As average fuel prices have dropped this quarter we will be adjusting all standard tipper haulage rates for all vehicle types on all standard work by -0.52% from 1 July 2024.” 
The spokesman added: “There are also very challenging market conditions across the industry currently and, as a business, we must constantly look at how we can remain competitive and drive efficiencies. 
“As part of this drive we have made the difficult decision to reduce standard rates by a further 1.25%.” 
Of course, a reduction in rates won’t help Aggregate Industries find an operator prepared to haul any Straitgate winnings to Hillhead for processing – a 46-mile round trip for every as-dug load that must only be fuelled with the more expensive HVO. However, the company has already admitted that economic conditions are not currently conducive to the viability of mineral working at Straitgate, and that once the permission is implemented the site could be mothballed.
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Thursday, 24 November 2022

‘As a pedestrian against a 44-tonne truck, it really is nerve-wracking’

One reason for Devon County Council's refusal last year of Aggregate Industries' planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm was summarised in the Council's Statement of Case issued for the recent Public Inquiry: 
6.43 The Straitgate Proposals will, at peaks, send some 200 articulated tipper trucks out of the Site onto the highway network at Birdcage Lane, in close proximity to a bus stop used by schoolchildren. The Appellant proposes to gravel a verge to prevent passengers walking along the carriageway in times of wet weather, and to impose “embargoes” on truck movements during school pick up and drop off times. However, AIUK does not and would not own the relevant vehicle fleet, and it has provided the MPA with no certainty that the embargoes would be effective, in circumstances where there is considerable uncertainty regarding the impact of cattle crossings on the Appellant’s intended operations. 
It goes without saying that the interaction between 44-tonne HGVs and pedestrians, especially children, is a crucial matter to resolve, as this Somerset tale shows:
 
"The 2.8m [wide] road is our footway and we share it with these HGVs every day - and they're not giving way." 

"The HGV didn't stop for me, he kept edging towards me, so I just thought: 'I'm not moving, I've got right of way.' 

"So I stood still, he stood still. I sat in the road in the end. I thought: 'I'm not moving'. 

"He chose to bully me by edging forwards so that I would have to retrace my steps back to where I could go to a passing place. As a pedestrian against a 44-tonne truck, it really is nerve-wracking." 

Hanson Aggregates said it had since received a letter of apology from the "experienced" driver who works for one of its customers.
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Tuesday, 5 October 2021

‘WTF is a vehicle like that doing on the pavement?!’

Aggregate Industries’ proposed site access at Straitgate for its 44-tonne HGVs is exactly where children stand waiting for school buses. 

What could possibly go wrong?


EDIT 7.10.21 The above was obviously not an isolated incident. Aggregate Industries’ truck drivers clearly think it’s ok to drive on pavements.
 
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Monday, 27 September 2021

‘Aggregate Industries hikes franchised driver pay rates in face of skills crisis’


Earlier this month, Motortransport.co.uk reported: 
The construction materials sector is hiking franchised driver rates as the driver shortage crisis continues. Breedon Group, Aggregate Industries and Tarmac have boosted their pay in the past few weeks, MT has learnt. The rate rises come as the haulage sector continues to struggle to attract and retain HGV drivers in the face of the widespread UK driver shortage.
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Tuesday, 6 July 2021

If the B3174 were in Lincolnshire – it would be too narrow for quarry HGVs

A decision by Lincolnshire County Council for planning application PL/0082/20 – for land at King Street, Greatford, to work 3 million tonnes of sand and gravel over 16 years with 70-80 HGV movements per day – was deferred this week following representations stating the access road would be too narrow: 
...the proposed 20cm increase in the road width, which would make it 5.5m wide in places, would not be sufficient... she had read government guidelines that said 6.8m was recommended "where HGVs were likely to pass each other on a regular basis". 
...HGVs often measured 3m in width with their mirrors, meaning 5.5m would be too narrow.
Meanwhile, in Devon, Aggregate Industries' proposal at Straitgate Farm is for up to "216 HGV trips per day" on the B3174 – a 53% increase in the number of trucks. How wide is this road? The company's Transport Assessment says the B3174 "Varies 5.3 to 8.8 m". 

The narrow width is no doubt part of the reason why there are so many accidents – including HGVs.

The Supporting Statement for Aggregate Industries' "inextricably linked" Hillhead application said: 
It is proposed to widen Clay Lane... to achieve an overall carriageway width of 7.3 metres. This will allow the safe two-way lorry movements for all mineral and waste related traffic.
The implication, of course, being that anything less than 7.3m is not safe. Even the access road into the Straitgate site "will comprise a 6.0 m wide road". So why should the B3174 – a busy 60mph road which is only 5.3m wide in places – be acceptable for the export of Straitgate material? 

If the B3174 were in Lincolnshire, it wouldn’t be. The Transport Statement said: 
1.3 ...[Lincolnshire] County Council asked for a review of the width of King Street and its suitability to accommodate additional HGV movements. In their email of 22nd November 2019 the LHA requested a minimum width of the main access route to be 5.5m... 
The Officer’s Report proposed the condition: 
that localised carriageway widening, to a total width of not less than 5.5 metres, should be provided on an identified section of King Street where the carriageway is presently less than 5.5 metres wide. 
Objectors claimed this widening was insufficient. They have a point. 

Where vehicle speeds are greater than 37 mph, national guidance recommends new roads should be 7.3m wide; only where speeds are below 37mph is 5.5m acceptable for two-way HGV movements. 

However, that's not the end of the story. HS2 came along. Staffordshire County Council wrote: 
A width of 5.5m... is barely sufficient to accommodate two cars and is against HS2’s own policy of a 6.8m width for realigned roads where HGVs regularly pass
HS2's own policy? The HS2 Rural Road Design Criteria says: 
A.1.1 In many cases, published design standards are not fully relevant to rural roads (especially minor ones)... 
A.1.5 A set of design criteria have therefore been developed for works on rural roads where no other design basis is suitable, and it is intended to provide a safe, consistent and proportionate approach to help ensure that the character and distinctiveness of such routes is retained as far as is reasonable [sic] practicable. 
What does it say about carriageway width for two-lane roads?
A.6.3 Rural road widths for diversions should generally match the existing, subject to a minimum of 5.5 metres (the minimum for two cars to pass in safety at low speed). This minimum width shall be increased to 6.0 metres for lengths with occasional use by buses or heavy goods vehicles and 6.8 metres for roads where buses or heavy goods vehicles are likely to pass each other on a regular basis. 
So, if 5.5m is the minimum for two cars to pass in safety at low speed, why has Devon County Council not raised any objection over up to "216 HGV trips per day" on a busy 60mph road as little as 5.3m wide?


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Monday, 14 December 2020

‘Does this look like a safe way to drive an HGV past a cyclist?’

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‘Every aggregate freight train takes 70-75 lorries off the road’

Aggregate Industries’ CEO Guy Edwards was recently asked his views on his company’s application to quarry Straitgate Farm. Despite claiming that his company took its responsibility to the environment "very seriously", Mr Edwards failed to explain why the underlying material at Straitgate is worth the environmental cost of 2.5 million HGV miles, and the thousands of tonnes of CO2 that such a scheme would produce.

CEMEX and others have in the meantime been publicising their push to use more sustainable transport:

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Wednesday, 29 July 2020

Significant increase in HGVs on B3174 Exeter Road from working minerals “unlikely to be appropriate” – says report commissioned by DCC

Last year, Devon County Council ran a consultation on proposals for a new £7.2 million primary school for Thorne Farm, Ottery St Mary, with land next to the school site earmarked for 150 homes to help fund the cost. The plan is to relocate Tipton School to this site – due to flooding concerns at its current site.

Last October, we pointed to the fact that not only would the site be just 1000m downhill and downwind of dust, PM2.5, PM10 from any mineral workings at Straitgate Farm, and directly downstream from additional runoff caused by mineral workings – but that the Thorne Farm site was in a Mineral Consultation Area, one of many that Devon County Council had plastered across the county.



At the time of Devon County Council’s consultation last year, the question of situating a primary school and 150 new homes next to a multi-million tonne resource of sand and gravel – which had been safeguarded by the Council but would effectively be sterilised by the development – had perhaps surprisingly not been addressed.

Outline planning application 20/1504/MOUT for the school and houses was lodged with East Devon District Council last week. James McInnes, Devon County Council's cabinet member for schools, said:
We've listened very carefully to local residents and have made a number of changes as a result of their input. A lot has happened with covid-19 since we held the public consultation and I believe that this multi-million pound injection into the local economy couldn't come at a better time.
If we are to build ourselves out of recession then what better way to do it than by providing the most modern educational facilities for our children, who have been among the worst affected by the pandemic.
Changes include a roundabout on the B3174 Exeter Road. But what on the subject of those sterilised minerals? To answer that point, Devon County Council commissioned a Mineral Resource Assessment which was delivered last month.

Evidence pointed to post-medieval sand extraction from the site. However, the MRA recognised:

The MRA also recognised that a significant increase in HGVs on the B3174 would be inappropriate given that "the B3174 provides the principal access to Ottery St Mary":

This surely begs the question:

If HGVs working minerals at the Thorne Farm site "is unlikely to be appropriate" for the B3174, how on earth can up to 200 HGVs a day from a quarry at Straitgate – just 1000m to the west of the proposed new school – be appropriate for the same stretch of road, particularly given the level of accidents on this stretch – some documented here – and when the impact of 150 cows crossing 4 times daily has still not been assessed?

For anyone in any doubt, this was the impact that 5 cows had on the B3174 Exeter Road recently:


Clearly the adverse impacts detailed in the MRA commissioned by Devon County Council – HGVs, noise, exhaust fumes, dust, visual impact – are not the sort of thing to put near any home, including those around Straitgate.

The MRA concluded, unsurprisingly, by saying that the millions of tonnes of sand and gravel near the site could not realistically be worked and were therefore "not of strategic importance":

The "significant constraints" highlighted could equally apply to the resource at Straitgate.

The Planning Statement for the new school and associated homes can be found here. Does the application raise any other points of relevance?

Exeter Airport had concerns about this development, just as they had with Aggregate Industries' proposal for a quarry at nearby Straitgate Farm. They were concerned that the operation of the nearby navigational beacon might be impacted, meaning "metallic substances will not be permitted within the construction of the roof elements", and neither will roof-top solar panels be allowed.

Traffic counts in September 2019 for the B3174 Exeter Road "the main highway access into Ottery St Mary from A30" were recorded as 6948 for a workday average, which again confirmed that figures previously put forward by Aggregate Industries were fiction.

On the issue of flooding for the proposal:
The design of the SUDS systems will prevent any increase in the downstream flood risk due to the development proposals. 9.11
The question is whether the SuDS have allowed for a 100 acre sand and gravel quarry upstream. One assumes not.

A Community Consultation Summary Report has been produced. As one respondent said:
Tipton school should be in Tipton, not on the other side of Ottery right next to a quarry.
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Friday, 17 July 2020

Canal barges to transport sand & gravel from new quarry – to cut carbon footprint


A planning application 20/01159/FUL has been submitted for a new quarry at Stanley Ferry near Wakefield; 1.6 million tonnes of sand and gravel would be extracted at a rate of 150,000 tonnes pa.

Sand and gravel would not leave the quarry on local roads, as a new wharf would be constructed on the Aire and Calder Navigation canal to transport the sand and gravel by barge to a concrete plant at the side of the River in Dewsbury.
Two lakes will be created to be used for angling and amenity purposes. In addition... the two lakes will provide vital additional flood attenuation storage to aid flood relief downstream of the site.
A quarry in this location would greatly reduce the overall carbon footprint of the local construction industry and reduce harmful emission contributing to global warming.


The operator is hoping, again in contrast to the never-ending charade that Devon County Council is facilitating for Straitgate:
Under normal circumstances, a decision would be expected in six months - by September/October 2020. Site operations would likely start in Spring 2021 with the first barge loads departing from the new Canal wharf later that year.
In a sign of the times, no public consultation has yet been carried out:
Although the Coronavirus pandemic has meant it has not been possible to carry out a public consultation prior to the submission of the application for the Stanley Ferry Quarry, we encourage local residents to submit any queries or questions through our website and our Twitter channel.
At the time of writing, @SF_Quarry has 15 followers.


EDIT 19.8.20 Opposition mounts over Stanley quarry plans. Objection from the EA. 

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Thursday, 16 July 2020

DCC set to use Strava to identify popular cycling & walking routes for repairs

Strava is set to be used by Devon County Council to decide where some of the additional £27m of spending on Devon’s roads will be allocated... the extra spending will go towards roads that are used by cyclists or walkers...
An extra £6m will be spent on Devon’s principal road network, with £3.2m extra of bridges and structures, with £17.7m to be spent on smaller roads, such as ‘C’ and unclassified roads, with a focus on improving the condition and resilience of high-usage local route networks.
By coincidence, it wasn't many months ago that we mentioned Strava on this blog. We posted What Strava tells us about AI’s haul route – how Aggregate Industries had claimed one local route network was hardly used by anyone, and how Strava showed otherwise:
In the past, Aggregate Industries' consultants have disputed that Birdcage Lane is used by pedestrians:
The roads adjacent to the application sites are not ideal for pedestrian use. 
4.1
It was of course nonsense. Aggregate Industries, if asked, would no doubt still dispute that these quiet lanes have amenity value. Show us the proof, they might say. And modern technology does.
Strava: a social fitness network, that is primarily used to track cycling and running exercises, using GPS data.
Click on the screenshot below to show the pedestrian use of Birdcage Lane:

Strava also tells us about the B3174 – the road that Aggregate Industries wants to use to haul sand and gravel. The company's previous TA said the B3174 was unattractive to cyclists. The latest TA is silent on the matter of cyclists and the interaction with up to 216 HGV movements a day, save for:
3.2.13 There are no designated cycle routes within close proximity of the proposed mineral extraction site, however proficient cyclists may utilise the network of quiet lanes.
Clearly they use more than just the quiet lanes. The screenshot below shows cyclist use of the B3174:

It was yet another example of Aggregate Industries' consultants saying one thing, and reality – with the help of some modern technology – telling us the reverse.

But it's good that Devon County Council are recognising the benefits of Strava to identify popular high amenity pedestrian routes across the County. It means the data presented above can hardly be disputed.
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E-scooters are too dangerous – bemoans HGV-dependent minerals industry

No mode of transport is risk-free, including electric scooters. The use of e-scooters in public is already permitted in many European countries. Proponents say they will ease pressure on public transport amid the coronavirus crisis, as well as cut carbon emissions and air pollution. Middlesbrough has just become the first place in the UK to trial e-scooters.

Nevertheless, the Mineral Products Association – the trade body representing the companies whose HGVs pound our roads, regularly harming even killing pedestrians and cyclists – has already reached a decision, and has called for e-scooters to be banned:
The MPA and its members have worked hard over the years promoting shared road safety and we believe that introducing new, more dangerous types of vehicle is neither safe nor sensible.

The MPA might remember the old adage:
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones
Because HGVs kill. Minerals industry HGVs kill. Aggregate Industries’ HGVs kill.



As we posted, some of Aggregate Industries' drivers clearly have an issue with road safety laws.



On the basis that HGVs are dangerous should they also be banned?
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Thursday, 28 November 2019

What Strava tells us about AI’s haul route

Birdcage Lane is hardly used by anyone, argues Aggregate Industries' Transport Assessment. Someone apparently counted vehicles on Birdcage Lane at "peak hours", and came to the answer of one.


What a perfect place to put up to 216 44-tonne HGVs a day. Who on earth would notice?

But Birdcage Lane’s low frequency of traffic is what makes it so attractive to pedestrians, joggers, ramblers, dog-walkers, cyclists, horse riders, and even five-time Olympic runners. It was why, with the backing of highway consultants Vectos, another site access point was suggested to eliminate pedestrian and HGV conflict.

Aggregate Industries' Transport Assessment is silent on the pedestrian use of Birdcage Lane, save for:
1.1.6 To reduce the potential interaction of pedestrians and HGV’s in a rural environment a footway will be provided along Birdcage Lane to the point where the new section of Permissive footpath is proposed.
This would have a "1.2m maximum width" and be overgrown in no time. But it’s the thought that counts, and we should consider ourselves lucky.

In the past, Aggregate Industries' consultants have disputed that Birdcage Lane is used by pedestrians:
The roads adjacent to the application sites are not ideal for pedestrian use. 
4.1
It was of course nonsense. Aggregate Industries, if asked, would no doubt still dispute that these quiet lanes have amenity value. Show us the proof, they might say. And modern technology does.
Strava: a social fitness network, that is primarily used to track cycling and running exercises, using GPS data.
Click on the screenshot below to show the pedestrian use of Birdcage Lane:

Aggregate Industries' consultants should clearly have been counting bipeds and quadrupeds as well. But then again, that wouldn't have given them the answer they wanted, would it?

Strava also tells us about the B3174 – the road that Aggregate Industries wants to use to haul sand and gravel. The company's previous TA said the B3174 was unattractive to cyclists. The latest TA is silent on the matter of cyclists and the interaction with up to 216 HGV movements a day, save for:
3.2.13 There are no designated cycle routes within close proximity of the proposed mineral extraction site, however proficient cyclists may utilise the network of quiet lanes.
Clearly they use more than just the quiet lanes. The screenshot below shows cyclist use of the B3174:

Plainly – and this won't be the last example – Aggregate Industries' Transport Assessment has been found deficient. Consultants have not assessed ALL road users around the site. How very remiss. How very unsurprising.
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Tuesday, 26 November 2019

HGV movements at Straitgate would be 70% higher than UK’s biggest mining project

Aggregate Industries' proposal to quarry Straitgate would generate up to 216 HGV movements a day.

To put that number in context, let's look at the biggest mining project in the UK: the Sirius Minerals project to extract polyhalite at its mine at Dove’s Nest Farm in the North York Moors National Park.

The project has recently run into problems. Now – earlier than expected in an effort to 'de-risk' the project for investors – the plan is to transport the fertiliser above ground, from the Woodsmith Mine near Whitby to Teesside. According to TeessideLive, Sirius Minerals plan to bring polyhalite to Teesside by lorry – but only 63 journeys allowed a day:

Planning permission is already in place for Sirius HGV vehicles to make 63 return journeys a day, along the A171 and into Teesside.
It was sought by the firm from the outset to cover an interim period between reaching first polyhalite and building the remaining infrastructure needed to transport it underground.
the worst case scenario of 127 daily HGV movements 15.6.5
By contrast, the number of HGV movements that would be generated by Aggregate Industries if quarrying were to proceed at Straitgate are up to 70% higher – part of the route on a B road as little as 5.3m wide.
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Wednesday, 6 November 2019

Transport Assessments & HGVs: How consultants create an alternative reality

We’ve previously posted about how parts of Aggregate Industries' application to quarry Straitgate Farm have been a catalogue of fiction. We said:
It all makes this multinational and its consultants look like a bunch of cowboys, willing to say whatever it takes. It begs another question: If AI can’t act honestly before winning any keys to dig, what hope would there be afterwards?
Amazingly, Aggregate Industries is on its third Transport Assessment to support this proposal – and its third set of traffic consultants. The first Transport Assessment was from SLR in 2015, when the plan was to haul material to Blackhill. The second was from David Mason Associates in 2016. The third – the current one – is by Horizon Consulting Engineers. This last one, written in 2018 and still being updated this year, is (at least with the copy we have) already at Revision E.

These documents are supposed to be "thorough assessments of the transport implications of development", and yet each one from Aggregate Industries has played with the truth – the latest being no exception.


David Mason, produced more fiction – and was later ditched by the company. His traffic numbers for the B3174 bore no relation to reality. Highways England counts two months earlier showed almost 60% more traffic – numbers subsequently borne out by Horizon.

You won’t find the third Transport Assessment on Devon County Council’s planning website. It has only been sent to us after we made a Freedom of Information request.

How much better will this one be? First indications don’t bode well. On the matter of highway safety, Horizon claims for the "three year period" until the end of 2016:
6.3.1 Three accidents have occurred within the study period of which only one occurred at the junction which is the subject of improvement works. None of the accidents involved an HGV…
It's not true. This accident happened on Monday 4 April 2016 – within a stone’s throw of Straitgate – on the relevant stretch of the B3174 Exeter Road that Aggregate Industries propose to use:


Fortunately no-one was injured, but police closed the road for the best part of a day.

If Horizon can overlook this sort of accident, what else can it overlook?

Perhaps, in an effort to be thorough, and given that this application will not now be determined before 2020, we should look at these accidents too – both involving an HGV, both in 2019, both involving police, and both a matter of yards from Straitgate Farm.



Another lorry in the ditch outside Straitgate


As these photos evidence, the B3174 Exeter Road is not as safe as Horizon makes out.

Devon County Council is aware of the accidents on this stretch. Earlier this year, in connection to the Straitgate proposal, the Council’s Neighbourhood Highways Officer advised of "HGVs going into unlined ditches" between Daisymount and Birdcage Lane.

And what – with plans to put another 200 HGV movements a day on this road – was the advice to the case officer responsible for the Straitgate application from the Council's highways planning department?
I really don’t know if this changes anything or not !
Why are so many trucks coming off this road? It's quite simple – but again it's not something that's been discussed in the Transport Assessment.

Consider that HGVs are 3.0m wide or more, including wing mirrors.


According to Horizon itself, the B3174 Exeter Road is as little as 5.3m wide. In other words, in places, the road is too narrow by as much as 70cm for two HGVs to pass each other with no room to spare. Consider also, with the speed limit of the B3174 Exeter Road at 60mph, how little margin for error there is, with vehicles approaching each other at speeds of up to 120mph.

You might have thought this would have rung warnings bells – given that the Straitgate proposal could generate in addition as many as "216 HGV trips per day" – but no. Firmly in alternative reality mode, Horizon says "the proposed development complies with policy M22: Transportation and Access of the Devon Minerals Plan 2011 - 2033", or in other words this the proposal "would not have a significant effect on: (a) road safety".

But Horizon’s grasp of M22 is tenuous, and not just on the safety front.

Because despite showing a map of the proposed haul route, Horizon fails to assess the distances involved. Horizon fails to say that each load would need to be transported 23 miles for processing. Horizon fails to say that there would be more than 105,000 such movements, and even more if, as Horizon says, we were "to account for the use of HGV’s with a lower load capacity". Horizon fails to say that this would amount to some 2.5 million miles, or perhaps even more with smaller loads.

Clearly, in trying to paint a rose-tinted vision of Aggregate Industries' HGVs criss-crossing Devon, Horizon does not provide "thorough assessments of the transport implications of development", and clearly the proposal does not comply with Minerals Plan policy M22, given that the same policy says:
mineral development should minimise the distance that minerals are transported
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Wednesday, 24 July 2019

BGS updates Mineral Planning Factsheet – and highlights impact of transport costs

British Geological Survey has published a revised factsheet for construction aggregates.
The latest update of the ‘Construction aggregates’ factsheet has just been published by the BGS to reflect the many recent changes in the structure of the industry, the latest amendments in a wide range of aggregates-related planning issues, plus updated statistics on all aspects of aggregates supply.
A couple of interesting snippets:
Sales of primary aggregates in Great Britain peaked at 300million tonnes in 1989 but have since declined considerably. In 2017 primary aggregates sales for Great Britain were 176.3million tonnes, comprising 114.5 million tonnes of crushed rock and 61.8 million tonnes of sand and gravel, including marine dredged…
Sales of primary aggregates in the UK were some 190 million tonnes in 2017 with an estimated value of £2258 million based on ex-quarry values.
That's around £12 per tonne after processing – before onward delivery. On transport costs:
Aggregates are low value high weight/volume products... Transport is a key element of the supply process. There are two main issues associated with the transport of aggregates. First are the environmental impacts of the supply of aggregates in the immediate vicinity of the quarry (the environmental impacts of more distant transport movements are generally dissipated within the whole transport system). Second, since aggregates are probably the lowest value materials that are transported by road, rail and sea, the cost of transport is an important element of the final delivered cost of the aggregates.
In 2017, the Freight Transport Association put the costs of running a 44-tonne HGV at £140,000 pa. Based on working 250 days a year, that's £560 per day, before any allowance for profit.

... material would be extracted at a rate between 120,000 tonnes and 180,000 tonnes per annum on a campaign basis which means that extraction would be limited typically to 2 or 3 times per year with each campaign lasting between five and seven weeks at a time.
All this material would need to be transported to Hillhead for processing, a 46-mile round trip for each 29-tonne load of as-dug material – which includes 20% waste. The scheme totals some 2.5 million miles.

If we assume, say, 150,000 tonnes per year, extracted over 16 weeks, costs would be in the region of (11 trucks x 5 days per week × 16 weeks) £500k per year – just to haul material to the processing plant – again before allowance for the haulier's profit. All back-of-the-envelope stuff, but a significant cost. In fact, over 10 years, it would cost AI £1m just to transport the waste.

It doesn't look like economics is Aggregate Industries' strongest suit. The haulage scheme is plainly bonkers. Plainly unsustainable. And plainly not, as we keep being told, "at the forefront of efforts to mitigate climate change."
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Friday, 5 July 2019

Cyclist in her twenties crushed by Aggregate Industries cement lorry in Battersea


London Concrete – part of Aggregate Industries – was quoted in the Evening Standard as saying:
It is with deep regret that we can confirm a vehicle owned and driven by a self-employed franchise haulier was involved in a fatal collision with a cyclist. Our sincerest sympathies go out to the family of the deceased. London Concrete are currently working closely with the authorities to fully investigate the incident.





We have only recently posted about AI’s HGVs in the real world.
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Thursday, 20 June 2019

AI’s HGVs in the real world

Aggregate Industries has previously pointed to dangerous lorry driving and how safety must come first:
Throughout the duration of 2017 there has been an influx of headlines around poor lorry driving which has led to structural damage of property and infrastructure, accidents and, most tragically of all, fatalities.
As part of an ongoing crackdown on bad driving etiquette by Highways England, last month (November 2017) saw one UK County conduct secret filming which worryingly captured a number of HGV drivers using their mobile phones, watching YouTube videos and even reading books behind the wheel
In 2019, this sort of thing is still going on – including by AI's own drivers.



Since then twitter has been busy exposing further examples of AI's HGVs in the real world:












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Friday, 15 March 2019

Yet another HGV crash on the B3174 Exeter Road


It was only last month that we posted Another lorry in the ditch outside Straitgate.

Today, yet another truck has ended up coming off the B3174 Exeter Road.

What could possibly go wrong with Aggregate Industries' plans for Straitgate Farm to put up to 200 HGV movements a day along this same stretch of road?



EDIT 16.3.19 According to local reports, the lorry came off the road when trying to pass another truck coming from the opposite direction. The main road into and out of Ottery was closed for some 5 hours as a result. Those familiar with this road will be aware that this type of accident happens all too frequently - many documented on this blog - a clear indication that the road is not suitable for AI’s plans.

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Tuesday, 5 March 2019

Some of AI’s drivers clearly have an issue with road safety laws

At Aggregate Industries, for example, we operate an incredibly robust approach to the enrolment of our 1,000-plus franchisee drivers… blah blah blah

Given that HGVs in the wrong hands, or hands containing mobile devices, are lethal weapons – as in the case of the Newbury A34 tragedy in 2016 – perhaps the company should look closer to home first. The RAC warns us that:
Using a handheld mobile phone while behind the wheel of a car is a controversial and incredibly dangerous issue…
The law is clear on when you can use a hand-held device behind the wheel. It is only legal if you are safely parked – and this does not include waiting in traffic or when sat at the traffic lights.
Contrary to what many drivers seem to think, the law still applies when your vehicle is stopped at lights or in a traffic queue. If your engine is running, your phone should be nowhere near your hands.
The AI driver below obviously thinks he’s above the law. Fortunately, however, he was caught on camera, and the film has been shared widely on social media:


But it’s not an isolated incident – despite the incredibly robust approach to enrolment AI has for its drivers. We have previously posted examples; here are a few more:








It’s all very concerning.

So when the MPA – the trade association that represents AI and others – talks about a new vision, a vision supposedly aimed at:
Driving Change, Raising Standards and Improving Perceptions
perhaps that vision needs to be repurposed:
Driving must Change, to Raise Standards and Improve Perceptions
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