HC Deb 06 March 1963 vol 673 cc388-9
31. Mr. Webster

asked the Minister of Transport when the work on the motorway south of Bristol will commence.

Mr. Hay

It is too early to say, A draft scheme for the length of the M.5 motorway from the Filton By-Pass to the River Avon will be published this month and one for the continuation southwards to East Brent later this year. Start of work will depend on completion of the statutory processes and on the availability of funds.

Mr. Webster

Is my hon. and gallant Friend aware that the time is coming when the balance will have to be redressed from a concentration on motorway requirements into the centre of the country to improving communications with outlying regions where there is unemployment, where the agricultural industry needs better communications and where the British industrialist, I hope, seeks to go for his holidays?

Mr. Hay

That is a point of view and one which we always take account of.

Mr. G. Wilson

Will my hon. Friend remember, in considering priorities in this matter, that Cornwall is primarily an industrial county and not a holiday area?