§ 37. Mr. Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies he is making of the increasing damage being caused to rural unclassified roads and lanes by commercial vehicles; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PeytonA study of the whole problem of the effect of heavy vehicles on minor rural roads is to be undertaken by the County Councils Association on behalf of the local highway authorities which are responsible for these roads. My Department will co-operate in this study.
§ Mr. WintertonI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply, but is he aware that 430 many of our rural unclassified roads and lanes are being heavily damaged by commercial vehicles using them as short cuts and that ditches are being pushed in, hedges ruined and verges desecrated? Will he treat this matter with a greater sense of urgency?
§ Mr. PeytonI assure my hon. Friend that it is being treated with the utmost urgency and that all the matters to which he has drawn attention with such eloquence will be considered. Undoubtedly, what we have to move towards—and it must be comprehensive—is a policy of restricted roads.
§ Mr. MoneyIs my right hon. Friend aware that the situation is now so serious in the eastern counties that we are being nicknamed the juggernaut country? Will he bear in mind the possibility of a great deal of this freight being moved off the roads and on to the railways?
§ Mr. PeytonI very much doubt the last part of my hon. Friend's statement. I sympathise with him if he is now representing what is called a juggernaut county, but this problem is widespread throughout the country.