HC Deb 20 June 1968 vol 766 cc1283-6
7. Mr. Gower

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if, in view of the recent representation made to him that a new factory in part of the Welsh Development Area is handicapped by poor access road communications, he will consider some increase in the Welsh roads programme.

Mr. Ifor Davies

The Welsh Road Programme is increasing. Total expenditure on Welsh roads was £114 million in the four years 1964–65 to 1967–68 compared with £66 million in the four years to 1963–64. It will increase still further in future years.

Mr. Gower

Is it not a fact that the kinds of areas to which the Secretary of State and his colleagues are trying to induce industry to move are often serviced by tortuous and inadequate roads? May it not be that even the substantial inducements available to industrialists will not suffice unless some improvement is made?

Mr. Davies

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that our strategy on road improvements is designed to serve the needs of the Welsh development area and, in fact, new factories are being opened in Wales, despite our difficulties.

9. Mr. Roy Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what is the total expenditure on roads in Wales in the period 1965–66 to 1967–68 compared with that from 1962–63 to 1964–65.

Mr. George Thomas

From 1962–63 to 1964–65 expenditure was £63.9 million compared with £86 million from 1965–66 to 1967–68, an increase of £22.1 million.

Mr. Hughes

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Of course, all hon. Members on this side of the House are aware of the inertia shown by previous Tory Administrations in this matter, but will he assure the House that there will be no let up in these encouraging developments?

Mr. Thomas

We inherited a very serious problem, but I am determined that expenditure on these roads shall be as much as we can afford.

Mr. Gibson-Watt

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the figures that he has just given are both irrelevant and misleading unless they include the expenditure on such roads as the M50, 20 miles of which cost £6 million outside Wales, and the expenditure on such projects as the Severn Bridge?

Mr. Thomas

It is very difficult to satisfy the hon. Gentleman, but I can assure him that we have increased substantially the expenditure on roads in Wales, and we intend to go on doing so.

10. Mr. Roy Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what is the value of major trunk road schemes started or to be started in Wales in the periods 1965–66 to 1967–68 and 1968–69 to 1969–70.

Mr. George Thomas

In the three years 1965–66 to 1967–68, £9.6 million. In the two years 1968–69 to 1969–70, £27.5 million.

Mr. Hughes

The figures which my right hon. Friend has given are most encouraging, but will he bear in mind that there are no grounds for complacency, because access to the Midlands and the Home Counties is essential to the future prosperity of South Wales?

Mr. Thomas

My hon. Friend is quite right. I wish that we could spend five times as much, because the need is there. But we will spend to the utmost of our capacity.

Mr. Gower

While we are all delighted that the Minister has pledged himself to do what he can in the matter, may I ask whether he will concede that most of the roads built to date must have had some preparations during the years before he took office?

Mr. Thomas

I do not blame the hon. Gentleman in looking for a crumb of comfort, but I can assure him that this Government have had to find the money.

18. Mr. Gwynfor Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to improve road communications between southern and northern Wales.

Mr. George Thomas

These substantial plans are set out in paragraphs 54, 55, 371 and 393 of "Wales: The Way Ahead "(Cmnd. 3334).

Mr. Evans

Is the Secretary of State aware that for only one-third of the cost of the new town announced in 1964 for Mid-Wales, the Government could construct a splendid spine road from Cardiff to Caernarvon via Merthyr Tydvil and Ruabon, and Wrexham, with reconstructed trunk roads running off it to the west and east?

Mr. Thomas

I am glad to note that the hon Gentleman is now aware that I have responsibility for roads in Wales. May I advise him that if he talks to his own county council in Carmarthenshire, he will find that what it is interested in is an east-west road and not a north-south read. What it is interested in, in the north, is a road from Bangor to Chester. These communications must have priority, but of course I want to see the maximum improvement in all directions in the roads of Wales.

Mr. Anderson

Will my right hon. Friend continue to give first priority to economic matters, rather than to folklore, and insist on access to our major markets, by the M4 to London and by the Newport-Worcester trunk road to the Midlands, both of which are far more important to the economic life of Wales than any north-south links?

Mr. Thomas

My hon. Friend has spoken wisely.

Mr. Gibson-Watt

Would the right hon. Gentleman agree that his answer a moment ago shows a distinct change in the Government's road policy? Will he confirm that it is his opinion that east-west roads are, economically speaking, far more important than the much discussed north-south roads?

Mr. Thomas

As far as I am aware this is not a change of policy, it has been the way in which we have been spending our money. We are engaged in 27 improvements on the trunk road north to south at present, and spending a great deal of money on it, but the main emphasis in Wales, under present economic conditions, must be to improve the main roads to the west in North and South Wales.