HC Deb 23 May 1928 vol 217 cc1886-7
77. Sir W. de FRECE

asked the Minister of Transport whether his Department has, within the past year, from the Road Fund defrayed or promised to defray 100 per cent, and 75 per cent., respectively, of the cost of any road con- struction or reconstruction, except in the case of those thoroughfares known as new arterial or by-pass roads; and, if so, whether he can give the names of such undertakings?

Colonel ASHLEY

A few grants at the rate of 100 per cent. have been made exceptionally to certain highway authorities during the past financial year in respect of outstanding schemes under the Trunk Road Reconstruction Programme, initiated in 1924–25 as a means of mitigating unemployment. Special grants at the rate of 75 per cent. have been made to other schemes under the same programme and also for the following purposes:

  1. (a) to highway authorities in rural areas in England and Wales in connection with the "maining" of classified roads previously maintained by rural district councils;
  2. (b) to certain authorities, mainly in Scotland, in respect of the maintenance and improvement of Class I and Class II roads.
Further particulars of these special grants will be given, as usual, in the Annual Report upon the Administration of the Road Fund, but my hon. Friend will appreciate that comprehensive lists of the local authorities concerned cannot conveniently be embodied in a reply to a Parliamentary question.