§ 15. Mr. Willisasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many miles of roads in Scotland have dual carriage- 12 ways; how many miles of dual carriageway will be made in 1960, and how many miles within the next five years.
§ Mr. MaclayThirty-five miles of trunk road in Scotland have dual two-lane carriageways at present. A further 21 miles will be open to traffic in 1960. Schemes now in progress or to be authorised under the present £40 million programme will provide a further 70 miles by 1965 I regret that the information asked for is not available in respect of classified roads without a special approach to local authorities.
§ Mr. WillisIn view of the fact that we have a large number of unemployed and also that equipment is lying about at present, cannot the Minister speed up this programme in connection with dual carriageways, especially on the Edinburgh-Glasgow road, which seems to have been going on for a very long time?
§ Mr. MaclayThe hon. Member knows from some of the answers which I have given previously on this matter that we are steadily speeding up the whole road programme in Scotland, and have been doing so for some time. I agree with the hon. Member that the job is important, but the amount of labour employed in these big road work schemes is very small in relation to the capital involved.
§ Mr. T. FraserDoes the Minister appreciate that anyone who travels on the trunk roads from Scotland through England cannot help but observe what a small number of workers are employed on Scottish trunk road construction compared with the number employed south of the Border? On part of the A.74 road—from Glasgow to Carlisle—one sees miles of highway all churned up. Those stretches of road have been like that for months without one worker being employed on them. Does not the Minister realise that there are still 85,000 people unemployed in Scotland? It is high time that he greatly accelerated the road works programme in Scotland.
§ Mr. MaclayThe hon. Member will appreciate that work on these main roads is carefully phased. On examination, he will find that no time is being wasted on the work that is being done.
§ 16. Mr. Willisasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many miles of classified roads in Scotland are still 13 single lane; how many miles of singlelane roads have been widened to take two lines of traffic since 1950; and how many miles it is proposed to widen by 1965.
§ Mr. MaclayI regret that information about the present position could be provided only after consultation with all highway authorities, many of whom would have to carry out considerable research. I have not yet got details of all the schemes likely to be carried out by 1965.
§ Mr. WillisIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there are still far too many hundreds of miles of single-lane roadways in the North of Scotland? In view of the fact that we are trying to attract tourists to that area, and also in view of the large number of unemployed in Scotland, does he not think that he ought not to be making any single-line roadways now but should be making them all double track?
§ Mr. MaclayThe hon. Member will be aware that the Highland White Paper, published not long ago, made it clear that we are speeding up the whole programme in the Highlands as well as elsewhere in Scotland. It is true that the quicker we can get rid of single-lane roads the better.
§ Mr. T. FraserIs the Minister aware that the White Paper to which he has referred shows that the crofters counties' scheme, initiated in 1936, will be nearing completion in 1965? That is not very good progress.
§ Mr. MaclayBut the White Paper shows a very substantial speeding up of the programme that we had before then.