Cumberland Basin Road Improvement, Bristol (Hansard, 16 June 1965)

§ 29. Mr. Robert Cooke
asked the Minister of Transport what was the cost of the Cumberland Basin road improvement in Bristol; what was the cost of the opening ceremony and subsequent celebrations; and for how many hours the new bridge was closed to traffic on each day in the four months following the opening.

§ Mr. Tom Fraser
The total cost of bridge and roadworks was about £2½ million.
The new bridge, which was opened about two months ago, has been closed in daytime for total periods varying from 17 minutes to 3 hours to allow ships to pass, and for up to about 6 hours when the bridge had also to be closed for technical adjustments. I am sending the hon. Member a full schedule of daily closures.
The arrangements for the opening ceremony were the responsibility of the highway authority, Bristol City Council.

§ Mr. Cooke
While I am very grateful for the basic statistics, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to circulate the details in the OFFICIAL REPORT? Will he continue to take as big an interest in this bridge now, in view of the difficulties, as he did when he came to open it?

§ Mr. Fraser
It would be quite inappropriate to set out a full schedule of the daily closures in the OFFICIAL REPORT—

§ Mr. Cooke
Why?

§ Mr. Fraser
Because it could not be of great interest to the House as a whole. The hon. Member happens to be a Bristol Member. This is a matter which affects Bristol; the bridge is operated by Bristol City Council, not by the Ministry of Transport. I do not think that it would be for me to indicate to the House of Commons the business of Bristol City Council. Incidentally, the basic statistics which I gave in my reply show that the bridge, which the hon. Member thought had been open for four months, has, in fact, been open for two months.

§ Mr. Palmer
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the reason for the withdrawal of this bridge from service is the list of troubles which are normal in a new engineering enterprise and that therefore the Question asked by the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Robert Cooke) is trivial in the extreme?

§ Mr. Fraser
It ought to be made clear that the mechanism is still in the commissioning stage and that the bridge has not yet formally been handed over to the highway authority. The criticisms which have been made are therefore a little out of turn.

§ Mr. Cooke
On a point of order.

Hon. Members
Sit down.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. There should be silence so that I may hear the point of order.

§ Mr. Cooke
In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment.