§ 4. Mr. Gwynfor Evansasked the Secretary of State for Wales whether he will state the location and the lengths of the motorways, dual carriageways and reconstructed roads it is planned to start and to complete, respectively, in Wales in the year 1967–68.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Ifor Davies)Work is expected to start on 12 schemes, each estimated to cost more than £100,000, to provide 9¾ miles of dual carriageways and 8 miles of other new or reconstructed roads in Wales. Ten similar schemes expected to be completed will provide 6¾ miles of 1342 motorway, 3¾ miles of dual carriageway and 4 miles of other new or reconstructed roads. With permission I will circulate the details in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. EvansIs the hon. Gentleman aware that outside Monmouthshire—and the Government's constant use of the phrase "Wales and Monmouthshire" suggests that they do not consider Monmouthshire part of Wales—there will be only four miles of motorway in use in 1970 in the whole of Wales, whereas already 38 miles of motorway are in use in Northern Ireland and the amount of money spent on roads in the six counties there will exceed the amount spent on the 13 counties of Wales?
§ Mr. DaviesWe regard Monmouthshire as part of Wales, although it is traditional to refer to "Wales and Monmouthshire". I answered the hon. Gentleman's second point fully in an Adjournment debate when the question of Northern Ireland was raised. Major road schemes are planned well in advance and, of course, there is considerable variation of schemes through completions and the start of new contracts from year to year.
When the Welsh Office took responsibility for roads in Wales in 1965, the amount in the pipeline for the four years 1965–69 was £27 million for major schemes but the value of schemes prepared for 1966–70 totals £40 million, an increase of 50 per cent., thanks to my right hon. Friend.
§ Following are the details:
| SCHEMES SCHEDULED FOR COMPLETION IN 1967–68 | ||
| Estimated Cost £m. | Length (Miles) | |
| MOTORWAYS | ||
| M.4 London-South Wales-Newport By-pass (Tredegar Park-Malpas Road opened to traffic 24th February, 1967) | 9.5 | 6.7 |
| DUAL CARRIAGEWAYS | ||
| Trunk Roads | ||
| A.40 Gibraltar-Mitchel Troy Diversion, Monmouthshire | 2.3 | 2.74 |
| Principal Roads | ||
| A.455 Wharf Road Improvement, Newport | 0.7 | .28 |
| A.483 Central Area Approach and Roundabout at Cwmbwrla Road, Swansea | 0.3 | .40 |
| 3.3 | 3.42 |
| Estimated Cost | Length | |
| £m. | (Miles) | |
| OTHER NEW OR RECONSTRUCTED ROADS | ||
| Trunk Roads | ||
| A.55 Llandudno Junction Flyover, Caernarvonshire | 0.6 | .31 |
| Principal Roads | ||
| A.4058 Pontypridd Town Centre Diversion, Glamorgan. | 0.4 | .13 |
| A.473 Coychurch By-pass, Glamorgan | 0.1 | 1.1 |
| A.467 Improvement along Canal Crumlin - Pant Bridge, Monmouthshire | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Other Roads | ||
| B.4286 Bridge over River Afan-Port Talbot, Glamorgan. | 0.1 | .14 |
| B.4292 Pentreguinea Road-Foxhole Road, Swansea | 0.1 | .61 |
| 1.8 | 3.79 |