§ 32. Mr. Holtasked the Prime Minister, in view of the inadequacy of the United Kingdom road-building programme and of the dangers and inefficiency of present piecemeal development, if he will personally review current plans to see whether Her Majesty's Government should not allocate a further £70 million a year to new road construction as a matter of urgency.
§ The Prime MinisterI do not accept that the size of the road-building programme is leading to inefficiency and piecemeal development. The estimates recently published for expenditure on new construction and major improvement in the United Kingdom show an increase of some £13 million over the figures for last year. The size of the programme for future years will be determined in relation to all other demands on our resources.
§ Mr. HoltWould not the Prime Minister agree that the present scale of operations on road building is completely out of relationship with the problem in which we are involved? Would not he agree that unless the Government step up the whole scale of their operations, they are only delaying a road-building programme which inevitably will be a great deal more costly?
§ The Prime MinisterYes. That is why they have stepped it up. Five years ago the total expenditure was £5 million; this year it will be £76 million.