§ 17. Mr. Barnettasked the Minister of Transport if he will give further consideration to the question of motorway building with special reference to night work in heavily populated residential areas; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Bob BrownYes, Sir. The Department is examining what steps could be taken in future contracts to limit night work in heavily populated areas. I am extremely sorry for any disturbance or inconvenience which motorway construction work may cause but I am afraid that some is inevitable if only because of the magnitude of the task.
§ Mr. BarnettI am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am sure that he is aware that it is not good enough that elderly people, in particular, should be kept awake at night, sometimes for two years or more, while a particular section of road is built. Is he aware that what tends to happen is that the construction companies feel that they can deal with the complaints for a little while, which will be long enough for that section to be built, when they can move on to some other stretch, and some other old people can have the problem? Would he review very seriously the whole question of night work on this sort of work?
Mr. BrownI have the greatest sympathy with my hon. Friend's constituents and everyone else who suffers this inconvenience of night work. I can only repeat that we are examining what steps we can take in future contracts to limit this.