HC Deb 16 June 1965 vol 714 cc445-7
32. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Minister of Transport when he expects the A.19 road improvements to be completed.

Mr. Tom Fraser

The diversions at Sheraton and Shotton are almost complete. So is an improvement at Trenholme Bar. Work on the length between Wolviston and Sheraton started in February of this year.

Preparatory work, including Order making, surveys and land acquisition, is well in hand on the rest of the A.19 north of Thirsk. We aim to start work on some further lengths this year and on all the rest within the next four years.

Mr. Shinwell

Does not my right hon. Friend consider that there is undue delay in completing the improvements on this important road? Is that due to a shortage of labour? Is he aware that there is plenty of labour available in the neighbourhood? Has he seen a report that a farmer in the neighbourhood allows his cows to pass four times over that road? When this new improvement was planned was this taken into consideration?

Mr. Fraser

I should like to consider the last point made by my right hon. Friend. I had thought that the time taken was rather long for a 50-mile stretch of road, but in considering whether I could adjust the time-table for the road I had to take into account the size of the road programme nationally and the size of the road programme within the region. This road is to a considerable extent a duplicate of the A.1 travelling northwards. The two roads run virtually parallel. A lot of money is being spent on the A.1, and there are other roads in the area which are taking a lot of expenditure and resources over the next few years. If I were to give higher priority to the A.19, the question is whether it would be at the expense of any of the other highways in the area.

Mr. Turton

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this road is not parallel to the A.1 but runs diagonally from it and that it is one of the most dangerous pieces of road in this country, quite inadequate for the amount of industrial traffic carried on it? Will he do something to expedite this very urgent work?

Mr. Fraser

I frequently hear hon. and right hon. Gentlemen say, "This road in which I am interested is one of the most dangerous roads in the country." I begin to wonder what that means. Certainly, from the point of view of the number of accidents, this is not one of the most dangerous roads in the country. I am not saying that it is an unimportant road. It is because it is an important road that the whole road is being improved within the next four years, that work is going on, that additional work will be put in hand this year and that all the work on the whole length of road will be put in within the next four years. I was replying to a further question when I said that I found it difficult to compress the time within which the work could be completed. But let us not get this out of proportion and pretend that this is one of the most dangerous roads in the country.