§ 19. Captain STRICKLANDasked the Minister of Transport whether, in view of the impossibility of repairing essential bridges, scheduled as weak, within a reasonable immediate period of time and seeing that those bridges have been, and are, successfully carrying Toad traffic, he will now consider postponing the operation of Section 30 of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, or inform the House what he proposes as an alternative?
Mr. STANLEYI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answers which were given on this subject on the 5th and 7th March to the hon. Member for Newport (Mr. Clarry) and the hon. Member for Henley (Sir G. Fox) of which I am sending him copies.
§ Captain STRICKLANDMay I ask the Minister a definite question? In the case of a bridge that is acknowledged to be unsafe and about which neither the local authority nor the bridge authority is prepared to move, has the Minister no power to insist on the bridge being made safe; and, in the alternative, is road transport to be held up indefinitely until these people come to some arrangement 358 to have the bridge put in such a state that the roads can be used for their legitimate purpose?