§ 29. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent representations he has received on the need to designate as trunk roads the approach roads to the Forth Road Bridge; and what reply he has sent.
§ 52. Mr. Adam Hunterasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received recently from local authorities asking him to have the cost of the approach roads excluded from assessment of the total cost of the Forth Road Bridge, so that toll charges might be reduced.
§ Mr. HamiltonThat may be true, but my right hon. Friend knows that repeated representations have been made by Members of this House and by local authorities on this question. If these roads were designated as trunk roads, whilst there might still be a need for some tolls on the bridge they would not need to be increased as they were recently.
§ Mr. RossI have had representations in the past and I have also had Questions, and my hon. Friend will appreciate that I have also given answers in the past. The answer that I give today will be no better than the ones that I gave before. The inclusion of the approach roads was part of a bargain which included an outright Government grant of £4,650,000 and the waiving of interest amounting to £1.66 million during construction. This was a fair and generous arrangement, and I am not prepared to reopen the matter now.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. It would help the Chair to know of groupings in advance. Mr. Hunter.
§ Mr. HunterIs my right hon. Friend aware that a number of local authorities on both sides of the river feel that it is fair and reasonable that such a gesture should be made? Does he agree that if this were done the Fife County would benefit greatly, being in a development area?
§ Mr. RossI am sure that the people locally would benefit, but it would be at the expense of the construction of roads in other parts of Scotland.