§ 28. Mr. Hockingasked the Minister of Transport on what date he gave approval to the Coventry Inner Ring Road scheme; what is the estimated cost thereof; and whether he will make a statement on the progress to-date.
§ Mr. HayApproval in principle was given in 1957. The cost is estimated at £4.2 million. The first section was opened to traffic in December 1959. The second section will probably be opened later this year. Land acquisition is proceeding on the third section, and preliminary discussions are taking place about the fourth section.
§ Mr. HockingWill my hon. Friend bring some pressure to bear on the local authority to try to persuade it to get on with this job a little more expeditiously, especially in view of the fact that the road is only 2¼ miles long in total?
§ Mr. HayThat is a little hard on the Coventry City Council, which has done extremely well with this scheme and is pressing on with it as quickly as it can. We are also doing all we can to help. It is true that this is a comparatively short length of road, but it runs through a very large built-up area, and problems of land acquisition and accommodation works are acute.