HC Deb 09 November 1960 vol 629 c1026
36. Mr. D. Price

asked the Minister of Transport when he will authorise the construction of a fly-over at the Redbridge junction of A.35 and A.36, in the parish of Eling, Hampshire.

Mr. Marples

I have invited the Hampshire County Council to prepare detailed plans of a scheme. Until this is done and I can determine whether statutory orders are necessary, I cannot say when the scheme will be authorised.

Mr. Price

Am I or am I not to take it that my right hon. Friend's reply is encouraging? This is fine Ministry language, but is my right hon. Friend aware that I have raised this matter twice a year during the past five years and that my constituents continue to be murdered on this junction? Is he aware that in Hampshire we feel very strongly that this must have priority? It is a modest scheme. May I have some assurance that something will really be done about this crossing?

Mr. Marples

The matter at the moment rests with the County Council which was asked at the end of September to prepare a scheme.

Dr. King

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this problem is the most serious of a number of great problems in Hampshire and that this is one of the worst and most dangerous bottlenecks in the country in the summer? Can he tell us whether his Department has solved all the technical problems involved. Has not part of the cause of the delay been the Department's uncertainty about what form the fly-over should take?

Mr. Marples

No, Sir. Hampshire County Council itself wished to prepare this scheme. It has a county surveyor and it wanted to prepare it. It has now been asked to prepare it and until the county council submits a scheme the matter does not rest with my Ministry.