HC Deb 18 June 1958 vol 589 cc1100-1
38. Mr. Lipton

asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what action he is taking to avoid a recurrence of the traffic-jam four miles long which took place at Staines last Sunday evening.

Mr. Watkinson

Work on Thames Bridge aggravated the situation last weekend, but the full carriageway should be available for the rest of the summer.

The only really satisfactory answer to the traffic problem here is the building of the by-pass. Preparatory work for this is going ahead as quickly as possible, and construction should start by the end of this year.

Mr. Lipton

While it is curious that the present time should be chosen for making Staines Bridge narrower than it normally is—preparatory, of course, to widening it—has the Minister taken notice of the fact that, in addition to the four-mile traffic jam at Staines, there was a seven-mile traffic jam in Essex and a three-mile traffic jam in Kent? Must we expect this sort of thing every Sunday evening during the coming summer months?

Mr. Watkinson

I have also taken note of the fact that the Government are conducting the largest road programme which this country has ever had, and if the hon. Gentleman's Government had done a little more planning in their time the position would have been even better.

Mr. Strauss

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that traffic in this country will double in the next ten years? Is he also aware that this Government were later than any other Government in any European country in starting their postwar road development schemes, and, substantial as the Government's present scheme admittedly is, it is wholly inadequate for the needs of the country?

Mr. Watkinson

I think that the right hon. Gentleman invites the reply that if we had not wasted the years until we came to power, the position would be better today.

Mr. Lipton

In view of the totally unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I will raise the matter on the Adjournment.