§ 32. Mr. E. D. SIMONasked the Minister of Health if he will state the cost per square yard of constructing streets taken over as public highways repairable by the inhabitants at large in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds, and the annual cost per square yard of maintenance of such streets?
§ Mr. GREENWOODThe figures which the authorities have been able to give me are necessarily so qualified by various factors that to give them without a long explanation would be misleading. The cost of making up a street with a view to taking over depends not merely on the standard of construction adopted by the local authority and cost of materials but also on the amount of work which has already been done in the street by the private developer and on the relative widths of carriageway and footway. As regards cost of maintenance, I regret that I have not been able to obtain comparable figures.
§ Mr. SIMONWould it be possible for the Department to lay down any costing system that may be adopted by local 1796 authorities so that they may know how their costs compare with other authorities?
§ Mr. GREENWOODI should be prepared to consider that sympathetically.