§ 14. Captain Pilkingtonasked the Minister of Transport when it is proposed to build a motorway to the South-West.
§ The Minister of Transport (Mr. Ernest Marples)Work has already started on the first section of the London-South Wales Motorway and will start this spring on the first section of the Birmingham-Bristol motorway. This will be completed as quickly as resources permit and the roads from Bristol to Exeter will be extended in due course.
§ Captain PilkingtonCan my right hon. Friend make any statement about the building of a road further to the South-West than that, leading to the South-West which is badly in need of a better road?
§ Mr. MarplesA motorway is proposed from London to Kempshott on the A.30, west of Basingstoke. This is a six to twenty-year development proposal in the Middlesex, Surrey and Hampshire county development plans, and preliminary investigations are being made in order to publish a draft scheme under the Highways Act, 1959.
§ Mr. Dudley WilliamsWill my right hon. Friend bear in mind that there is not much point in improving road facilities between Bristol and Exeter unless at the same time steps are taken to reduce traffic jams which always develop in the by-pass round Exeter? Is my right hon. Friend aware that one way of doing this is by developing the inner by-pass in the city itself?
§ Mr. MarplesThe question of urban congestion is constantly in my mind.