HC Deb 15 November 1967 vol 754 cc410-1
8. Mr. Wingfield Digby

asked the Minister of Transport what plans she has for improved road or rail communication between Dorset and the Midlands.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Transport (Mr. Stephen Swingler)

Road communications between Dorset and the Midlands will be greatly improved by the completion of M5 to Edithmead by the end of 1971 and the planned new road south-west of Edithmead, as well as by various improvements of A34, A31 and A35 which are programmed, in preparation or under consideration.

Mr. Digby

Is the Minister aware that these roads are quite inadequate and that the decision to build a new motorway to Exeter, up to Bristol and along the Bristol Channel, will have a very serious effect on South Somerset and the whole of Dorset?

Mr. Swingler

I should have thought that the completion of the M roads—M4, M5 and M6, and the linkage to the M6—was wholly in the interests of Dorset. We have also said that we shall have a road to motorways standard further to the west, and improvements will be made in the A roads in Dorset and the Midlands and these roads will bring a tremendous advantage in the next few years.