§ 8. Mr. Ronald Atkinsasked the Minister of Transport whether she will take steps to ensure that where embankments of new roads are built in rich arable areas they should have gradients gentle enough for the land to be handed back to the farmer for agricultural purposes.
§ Mr. SwinglerWe already do this in suitable circumstances, but the additional earth moving involved would make it uneconomic to adopt the practice as a general rule.
§ Mr. AtkinsIs my hon. Friend aware that if the gradients of the embankments were halved 6,000 acres would be saved for farming on 1,000 miles of motorway and that the costs of maintaining the banks would be reduced?
§ Mr. SwinglerWe want to maintain as much land as possible for farming purposes and this is taken into account in all calculations of land required for motorway use. But I am advised that on average it would cost £4,000 an acre to provide land in this way for farming, and it is questionable whether, in many circumstances, this would be justifiable. But in all such cases we are in touch with the Ministry of Agriculture and will, of course, do our best to keep as much land available for farming purposes as possible.