Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's letter entitled Regulation of mobile concrete batching plant – decision on operating weight arrangements, published on 5 April 2018, what the evidential basis was for his Department's decision that there was no compelling case for amending regulations to permit mobile batching concrete plants (MCBPs) to continue to operate outside standard legal gross vehicle weight limits after the inclusion of MCBPs within statutory goods vehicle testing from 20 May 2018.

The inclusion of mobile concrete batching plant, alongside a number of other formerly-exempt vehicles types, in statutory goods vehicle testing from 20 May 2018 does not change the legal weight limits applicable to these vehicles.

The ‘special types’ rules, which permit certain vehicle types to operate outside the standard weight limits, are generally used to enable the carriage of equipment and indivisible loads which for engineering reasons cannot feasibly comply with the standard rules, and not because of economic or financial considerations. To apply these rules to divisible loads would represent a significant departure from precedent, could lead to demands for other vehicle types to be afforded similar treatment and would therefore require an exceptionally compelling case.

There is nothing to indicate that mobile batching plant, which carries a divisible load, cannot be feasibly operated within the standard legal weight limits.