§ 39. Mr. Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland in view of the need to expedite the development of the country's natural resources, what steps he is now taking to advance substantially the date for the commencement of work on the construction of a Forth road bridge.
§ 59. Sir W. Anstruther-Grayasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is now in a position to make a statement about the Forth road bridge.
§ Mr. MaclayI am very glad to be able to announce the outcome of the discussions in which my predecessor had been very actively and effectively engaged for some time past.
The Government have now considered the technical report to which my right hon. Friend referred in a previous reply, and have agreed that the layout for the full scheme of the bridge and approach roads as prepared by the Forth Road Bridge Joint Board should be adhered to, subject to further discussion of certain minor points and on the understanding that the cost does not materially exceed the present estimates prepared by the Board's consultants, namely, £l4.3 millions in all.
As announced earlier, the local authorities and the Government will contribute £500,000 and £4,650,000, respectively to the cost of the bridge, and the balance, subject to the necessary Parliamentary powers being obtained, will be advanced by the Government by way of loans which will be repayable from the proceeds of tolls. The Board was authorised last year to take the preparatory work to the contract-letting stage, and I have now informed it that when the preparatory work is completed it may proceed to invite tenders.
In short, this is the green light to carry on with the scheme, and I hope it will enable the actual work of construction to begin next year.
§ Mr. HamiltonThat is satisfactory so far as it goes, but will the Minister be more specific about the date at which the work will start; and secondly, will he give reconsideration to this very controversial question of tolls? Is he aware that there is great dissatisfaction on all sides in the country as a whole at what is regarded as a quite unnecessary and obsolete method of financing these projects?
§ Mr. MaclayThe answer to the first part of the supplementary question is that subject to the progress made by the Joint Board it is hoped that actual work may begin in the summer of 1958. As to the second part of the question about tolls, I do not accept that the toll system is obsolete. There are many toll bridges in operation in many parts of the world, including the United States of America and Europe.
§ Sir W. Anstruther-GrayIs my right hon. Friend aware that his statement will be very widely welcomed throughout Scotland, and that, so far as the matter of tolls is concerned, he will have a very large measure of support for the stand that he has taken?
§ Mr. WoodburnIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the whole of Scotland will welcome the fact that we have now reached the point where it looks as if we have come to the "end of an auld sane"? This has been going on for about thirty years, and I think the people of Scotland will welcome the decision. We hope that the bridge will be built, as the right hon. Gentleman has said it will. Once the bridge is built, we can easily get rid of the tolls.