FTA: Is the Scottish Freight Facilities Grant enough?
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The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has questioned whether the Scottish Freight Facilities Grant is enough, following the news that it will not be scrapped.
Funding for the grant has been extended until 2014, but the FTA is concerned that the amount allocated does not meet the demands of companies looking to switch to more efficient transport.
The Freight Facilities Grant helps businesses invest in moving goods around by more environmentally friendly means, in an attempt to help Scotland meet its 42% cut in greenhouse gas emissions target by 2020.
However, the FTA believes that this will not be achieved unless there is a model shift, in which lorries are taken off the roads and put onto rail or water.
Chris MacRae, FTA's head of policy for Scotland, commented: " There is a great deal of interest in the carbon and cost saving opportunities of modal shift available to companies that currently move goods by road – but £750,000 [in funding] is not going to go very far."
The Freight Facilities Grant was scrapped in the UK last January, effectively putting a halt to plans to move towards low carbon transport in the country.
