HC Deb 09 December 1968 vol 775 cc12-3
6. Mr. Tilney

asked the Minister of Transport when the findings of the Merseyside Area Land Use/Transportation Study will be published; and whether it will cover the estimated effect on investment and employment on Merseyside of the proposed Dee Estuary crossing.

Mr. Carmichael

The study is expected to be completed next April and the results made available shortly thereafter.

The study will give some guidance on the effects referred to, and this will be supplemented by the results of the Dee Estuary studies now in progress.

Mr. Tilney

Can the hon. Gentleman guarantee that, once the study is published, the Government will get a move on with this imaginative idea? Second, have the hon. Gentleman's experts gone to see what the Dutch are doing in turning their estuarial deserts into fresh-water lakes?

Mr. Carmichael

To make a decision like that one would have to wait for the results of the study, and this we shall do before deciding whether to proceed with haste or not.

Mr. Brooks

Will my hon. Friend make clear that, until the results of the study are available, no major decision will be taken about future investment in transport developments on Merseyside?

Mr. Carmichael

There will be no major investment pending publication of the study.

Mr. Fortescue

Will the Minister assure us that, should the study so recommend, the published proposals for the boundaries of the Merseyside P.T.A. will be amended, or consideration will be given to their amendment?

Mr. Carmichael

If the study does show that, consideration will certainly be given to amendment, but it is premature to make such a decision, before the study is published.