HC Deb 19 January 1970 vol 794 c6
5. Mr. Gwynfor Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to increase the mileage of motorways in Wales.

Mr. George Thomas

I would refer the hon. Member to my replies to his Questions on 28th February and 25th March, 1969, and my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda, West (Mr. Alec Jones) on 4th November, 1969.—[Vol. 778, c. 396; Vol. 780, c. 291–2; Vol. 790, c. 123–4.]

Mr. Evans

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that those replies were totally unsatisfactory, and they mean that by the middle 'seventies the Welsh proportion of British motorways will be only one-sixtieth?

Mr. Thomas

By the middle 'seventies Wales will see the biggest road programme she has ever known, and the extension of dual carriageway roads on a scale that we could not expect even a few years ago.

Mr. Anderson

Can my right hon. Friend confirm that when the M4 is pushed further westwards to Bridgend and eventually to Pontardulais, for the whole of its new length it will be up to full motorway standard?

Mr. Thomas

It will be either full motorway standard, or dual carriageway standard, which is very near to that. I should not like to give the assurance straight away, but it will be very soon.