HC Deb 23 July 1907 vol 178 c1363
MR. CLOUGH

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Ackworth Light Railway Company agreed to construct a bridge, sixty-six feet in width, for carrying the Doncaster and Tadcaster main road, which forms part of the Great North Road, at Kirk Smeaton, and that the Light Railway Commissioners took the step of prescribing only for a width of fifty feet; and whether he proposes to take any steps to safeguard the public from such a policy being adopted in the future by the Light Railway Commissioners.

MR. KEARLEY

The facts are as stated. In all such eases an appeal can be made from the Light Railway Commissioners to the Board of Trade, and such an appeal was duly made in this case. The Board, however, after full hearing and careful consideration, sustained the decision of the Commissioners. As the present width of metalled road at the place is only eighteen feet it was not considered reasonable to impose on a light railway the burden of a greater width at the proposed bridge than fifty feet.

MR. CLOUGH

Did not the Light Railway Company agree to make the bridge the fall width of the road?

MR. KEARLEY

I am aware of that fact.