HC Deb 29 April 1953 vol 514 cc2307-16

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Mr. Drewe.]

11.30 p.m.

Mr. John Taylor (West Lothian)

It is one of the most attractive and remarkable features of this House that there is always something new; during most of today we have been discussing economic affairs affecting all the world, while during the last hour and a half we have been concerned with a domestic matter affecting most of the people of this country. Now, for a few minutes, I would turn to a matter concerning only about a hundred yards of the surface of this island.

The subject which I would bring to the attention of the House is the state of part of the High Street of the Royal and ancient borough of Linlithgow. This is a famous thoroughfare, crammed with history, but tonight I am not concerned with its past, but with its present and future. Linlithgow's High Street is part of the busy and important highway, A.9, which, in turn, is part of the grand trunk road from London to John o'Groats. Practically all the traffic, passenger and freight, proceeding north to south, and vice versa which goes via the Great North Road, or any other road on the eastern side of this island, passes along this High Street.

There are two alternative routes; one by way of the Edinburgh—Glasgow road, A.8, but this involves such a long detour that few vehicles take it. The other is by the ferry at Queensferry, but this involves delays and expense and inconvenience, and it is not at all suitable and is not used by heavy traffic or by buses. Therefore, practically all the heavy traffic uses the route A.9, and passes along Linlithgow High Street. For about half the length of that street, there is a wide and gracious highway. Then, suddendly, at Linlithgow Cross, it narrows to a mere lane, only 19 ft. wide.

That is the width between the red line on the carpet, on which the Parliamentary Secretary's feet now are, and the back of this bench; I measured it this morning. That is the width of this part of the main traffic route between London and John o'Groats, and it is the narrowest part of the whole of that route. Six thousand vehicles a day pass through this bottleneck, and nearly half are lorries and buses, and other heavy vehicles.

I agree that there is one other part almost as narrow in all that long highway, and that is in the town of Falkirk; but there, it is possible to have a one-way street. In Linlithgow, there is no alternative thoroughfare to make possible a one-way route. Because of the main railway line, which runs parallel to the immediate south, and the historic Linlithgow Loch on the immediate north, there is no other way through the town, and the congestion in this busy main thoroughfare can be imagined. Sometimes, long lanes of traffic pile up, frequent traffic tangles develop, and they are indeed very difficult to unravel. I have had some photographs taken showing the narrowest part of the street which is the subject of this debate. Have I your permission, Mr. Speaker, to pass these photographs to the Parliamentary Secretary?

Mr. Speaker

Yes; I see no objection.

Mr. Taylor

Perhaps the Parliamentary Secretary will look at them as I enumerate them. Great care was taken by an amateur photographer in obtaining these photographs so that they should show the street at the times when there was no traffic, in order to depict how narrow is this part of the north-south artery.

The picture marked A shows the High Street at its narrowest point, looking westwards. It will be seen that there is barely room for two normal-sized lorries to pass each other, and it will also be noticed that the four-feet wide pavement at that point creates a highly dangerous situation for pedestrians. I ask the hon. Gentleman if he will take special note of the nature of the property on the right-hand side of the picture. The tenement house, No. 142, High Street, is very old, decrepit property, in which three families are living in a state of almost indescribable squalor. I draw special attention to it because I want to refer to the property affected by a proposed widening scheme.

The next picture, marked B, is taken from a point a little further westwards, looking towards the east. It shows that, when cars are parked at the side of the street, ordinary lorries of the type which regularly pass along this road cannot do so without overhanging the pavement, which really is an intolerable and highly dangerous circumstance. The pictures marked C and D show the backs of the property. I imagine that the hon. Gentleman may be mentioning the fact that the widening scheme will involve the demolition of property occupied. If he will look at the pictures showing the back of the property, he will see the nature of it, and I think he will agree that it will be a blessing when that property is demolished and the people are removed to more sound and healthy houses.

They show that the property is in a condition so decrepit and unsound that some if it is in danger of falling down unless the demolition squad gets busy fairly soon. The property is actually beyond repair, and, in the circumstances, it is not reasonable to expect anyone to spend money on it. It is true that one or two houses and shops are in reasonable condition, but, in the main, the affected part as a whole is inconvenient, without any particular historic value, an eyesore and a menace to public safety.

Pictures E and F show that a vennel and a wynd—and the hon. Gentleman, who spent some time on the banks of the Firth of Forth, will know those expressions—decant on to the street at its narrowest point, one on one side and one on the other, and indicate the danger, particularly to children. The pictures also show the devices which have had to be resorted to for lighting this main trunk road, which has no room for lamp standards. This busy traffic-congested street is so narrow that repairs to the surface can only be undertaken at night during one month of the year, from mid-June to mid-July. A widening scheme has been actively discussed for 20 years. In 1938 it was approved as a priority by the then Minister of Transport, but it had to be postponed owing to the war.

There is on the stocks an ambitious bypass plan to provide a new road clear of the town on the north of the loch, but this is a very heavy cost operation not likely to be undertaken for many years to come. And, even supposing it was undertaken within the foreseeable future, the large number of buses which use the area, and the shopping and local traffic, would still use the High Street. It really is unthinkable that the present congested and dangerous position should remain in perpetuity. Indeed, from my point of view and that of the town council it is unthinkable that it should remain as it is for many more months to come.

A low cost widening scheme for the narrowest part of this street has been prepared. It provides for the demolition of the property, mostly sub-standard, on the north side of the street at its narrowest part. It provides for a carriage way 30 ft. wide as against the present 19 ft., plus a border on each side of that carriage way of 5 ft. wide, and for a footpath 10 ft. wide, a total width of 60 ft.

The few families that would be evacuated by the demolition thus caused could be re-housed almost immediately by the town council. The council are willing, and indeed very anxious, to do this as soon as approval to go ahead with the scheme is given. In fact, they would empty the old houses immediately but for the fact that the owners might re-let them or because they might be taken over by squatters, and thus the council would be no further forward. The council will provide new houses as soon as the scheme is under way.

The new scheme is a partial one to widen the street at its most congested point between the historic house known as the Spanish Ambassador's House and the vennel. It has been approved by every authority concerned. The Linlith-gow Town Council are desperately anxious that it should go ahead and thus relieve them of a continued anxiety. The West Lothian County Council have given the scheme their full support. It is approved as an urgently needed road improvement by the Ministry's divisional road engineer for Scotland.

On 16th July, 1952, the right hon. and gallant Member for Pollok (Commander Galbraith), writing to me in his capacity of Joint Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, said: It is clear that funds will not be available to allow the work to be started this year,"— that is, 1952— but consideration is being given to the possibility of starting work in 1953 on a stretch most urgently in need of widening, that is, that part of the High Street lying between the vennel and the Ambassador's House. So far as I can see, it remains only for the Ministry to give its sanction to enable this badly needed scheme to proceed. I, together with some of my col- leagues and other important people in Scotland, met the hon. Gentleman's right hon. Friend yesterday on the subject of the Forth Road Bridge, a matter upon which he and I have been concerned in a previous Adjournment debate, and I apologise for the second time for keeping him up so late.

I am aware that the stumbling block is a financial one. I am aware, too, the Minister is working on a financial shoestring. I know he is being worried by local authorities to cancel the cuts in maintenance grants and to maintain the grants ceiling for the current financial year at its already very low level. But the Ministry has certain rules for road repairs and road improvement schemes. The important one is that, if they are essential for public safety, the schemes are approved. I would be in terrible difficulty to point in all Britain, using that yardstick alone, to a place where alterations were more urgent and essential than at this spot on this important highway.

I plead with the Minister not to give me just another refusal to this request. I plead with him, at least, to receive reports from the authorities—I know he has already had some—from his own staff, or from any independent observer. I wish, and extend to him this invitation very heartily, that he would come with me and have a look at this place. I know that he would be at once convinced that something must be done about this in its desperately-needed plan at this dangerous spot. I hope that this plea will not go unheard, but will receive the sympathy it deserves.

11.47 p.m.

Mr. A. Woodburn (Clackmannan and East Stirlingshire)

My hon. Friend's constituency lies between my home and my constituency. As he has pointed out, while he is raising this as a matter for Linlithgow itself, it is a matter of one of the main highways of this country. My hon. Friend has put forward a very strong plea for urgent treatment of this particular bottleneck. The Parliamentary Secretary will have an idea of what the position is, if I tell him it is almost as bad as South Queensferry from the point of view of wriggling around corners. There is a bad corner before one enters this narrow part and it makes it a very awkward journey altogether.

It is true that the Forth Road Bridge would relieve part, but not the whole of this congestion, because there will still be a great deal of traffic if one goes by Stirling through Falkirk and other points. There are other bottlenecks in that area which require urgent attention from a safety point of view. There is also a very narrow bridge on the highway coming from the south to Falkirk. The Parliamentary Secretary is already concerned with a scheme for a roundabout in another dangerous spot on the way to the Kincardine Bridge. It is the way to Stirling and to the north via Edinburgh. It is a matter of some importance which should receive attention.

From my own observations, I should not think there would be much loss of property involved in a scheme at the spot we are now discussing, and that Linlithgow would specify the property to get rid of this dangerous spot. It is true there have not been a great many accidents there, but the worst places are where no accidents occur. Everybody has to crawl so carefully that they proceed safely and there is no temptation to take any risks. It is a bad place for drivers and holds up transport passing through the town. I should say it is especially dangerous for children to be playing about the footpath when vehicles have to pass each other at this narrow place. I add my plea to that of my hon. Friend that the Minister of Transport should give very sympathetic consideration to this improvement, even if he cannot agree to the start of a new scheme.

The Chancellor has intimated that there was still great pressure on capital investment last year. If I understood him aright, he is most sympathetic to anything that will relieve capital investment, and I know how the Parliamentary Secretary's Ministry has perhaps made the greatest sacrifice in the last seven years in the sphere of capital investment austerity. I hope that if the Government have any slack for which they can allow, his Ministry will receive early attention and that one of the places to which the hon. Gentleman will give attention will be this bottleneck which my hon. Friend has mentioned. At Falkirk there is also a narrow place on this traffic route but the spot with which this debate is concerned is important because it is on the way to Falkirk, Grangemouth, Kincardine Bridge and Stirling, and is on the way from the east to the west.

11.51 p.m.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (Mr. Gurney Braithwaite)

The hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. J. Taylor) has put his case with such moderation that when he was speaking the thought crossed my mind that he might have gained access to my room and seen the notes of my reply, because he touched upon many of the points which I had intended to place before the House. He said that this scheme had been under consideration since 1938. That is perfectly true. It is an old problem which probably caused some discomfort and anxiety to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Stirling (Mr. Woodburn) as Secretary of State for Scotland during the six years when, no doubt, the same kind of stringency was placed on road work as is placed now. So there is no party point here.

I want to spend my time in talking about the present situation and in saying what I think is the practical course to adopt. High Street, Linlithgow, is on trunk road A.9, carrying through traffic from Edinburgh to Stirling. I was obliged to the hon. Member for West Lothian for the photographs which he passed across the Table and for his invitation to pay a visit to the site. Unlike many of the occasions on which I stand at this Box talking about road schemes on the Motion for the Adjournment and otherwise, I have not had to arm myself with information obtained from studying a map, for during the Recess I attended a conference in Stirling and passed through Linlithgow on my way from the airport. Admittedly it was during the hours of darkness when traffic was light, but I saw the narrowness of the street. I looked for that particularly because the hon. Member had been in touch with my Department.

It is also the main street of the town and is closely built up on each side. The width of the street is 28 feet, with a 17 ft. 6 in. carriageway at the narrowest point. I find that there have been 38 accidents in the past five years, involving nine persons injured and no deaths. The long-term solution to the problem—and the hon. Member realises how long-term it is—is a by-pass about four miles in length. An Order under Section 1 (2) of the Trunk Roads Act is under con- sideration but has not yet been made. The estimated cost of the scheme is over £500,000 and I fear that it will be many years before that work can foe carried out. Incidentally, there are objectors to the proposed layout.

Another plan is to widen High Street to 60 feet, with a 30 foot carriageway over a length of 380 yards from The Cross to the Swan Tavern, at an estimated cost of £74,052; with yet another alternative for a reduced length of 215 yards from The Cross to a point 50 yards east of Lion Well Wynd. The estimated cost of this reduced scheme is £31,126, of which £18,000 is for land and £5,400 for the demolition of property to which the hon. Member for West Lothian referred. I gather from the hon. Member that the problem of alternative accommodation would not be difficult. I understand that some 45 houses and 12 shops are involved. I feel that the Town Council should be able to arrange this, but there does not seem to me to be much point in demolishing property until such time as the road work can be carried out.

Unfortunately there are no funds available in the current year for any general programme of major improvements on trunk roads, but this scheme ranks high on the list of work to be carried out so soon as funds are available. I do not think we need to wait for that. My right hon. Friend wrote to the hon. Member for West Lothian on 10th November and had to couch his letter in very discouraging terms. I am not able to make any promises tonight as to when the work may be commenced, but I can say that we will carefully consider whether it is possible to begin the necessary acquisition of land this year for the Linlithgow scheme, so that when the time comes and there is, so to speak, a "green light" for major road improvements, we shall be able to start immediately.

There may be some difficulty over the inhabited property, and rehousing and demolition will be required. Demolition is, of course, part of the road work and cannot be embarked upon until the actual road scheme can be put in hand. These are obvious difficulties at the moment, but I would say to the hon. Member, because I never like Adjournment debates to end in a complete vacuum, that in spite of these obvious difficulties, we should like to see how far we can go, in consultation with the local authority, along the lines I have indicated, and to do it immediately.

Mr. J. Taylor

The existing highway is now due for repairs which will be carried out within a month. It might be worth while considering the cost of those repairs as useless expenditure if we are to have a widening scheme.

Mr. Braithwaite

I think that strengthens the case for consultation with the local authority on all aspects of the problem. I shall be glad at any time to discuss this matter in detail with the hon. Gentleman, and if he cares to bring officials of the local authority to the Ministry to discuss it, I shall be only too glad to do so.

Adjourned accordingly at Two Minutes to Twelve o'Clock.