§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the increased fuel duties imposed in his 1999 Budget on peak traffic flows on(a) the M25 and (b) other motorways; [80284]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect of the increased fuel duties imposed by his first two budgets on peak-hour traffic flows on (a) the M25 and (b) other motorways. [80285]
§ Dr. Reid[holding answer 13 April 1999]: I have been asked to reply.
The pre-Integrated Transport White Paper National Road Traffic Forecasts published by the Department of Environment Transport and the Regions in 1997 make allowance for the impact of 6 per cent. per annum real fuel duty increases between 1996 and 2002 on car use and commercial traffic. By 2002, these increases are estimated to reduce total motorway traffic by nearly 2.5 per cent. below what it would otherwise have been. The reduction in traffic between 8 am and 9 am is about 2 per cent. The 1997 forecasts do not distinguish between individual roads and cannot therefore be used to provide a separate estimate for the M25.