HC Deb 03 June 1974 vol 874 cc1021-30

10.0 p.m.

Mr. Michael Jopling (Westmorland)

When we adjourned for the Whitsun Recess I little thought that I should be standing here tonight raising in the House the problems of my constituency. I suppose it is appropriate that I should be doing so immediately after the two Whitsun weekends when many of the problems to which I wish to draw attention became so apparent.

I believe that I have the most beautiful constituency in England, and many hon. Members would not dissent from that view. Indeed I understand that the Secretary of State for the Environment spent part of the Whitsun holiday in the Lake District although, I am sorry to say, not in my constituency.

The main cause of the difficulties and problems in the Lake District is traffic. With the greater affluence which is enjoyed, the longer periods of leisure, the better use of leisure and, above all, the better roads, I suppose it is inevitable that the motor car should bring these difficulties to the Lake District.

The better roads and the better approaches to this beautiful part of England have made a huge impact on my constituents. On the one hand, the construction of the M6 motorway to Scotland has relieved the old grey town of Kendal of much of the through traffic which bedevilled it for so many years. It is amazing how quickly the pressure of traffic has built up again, although the heavy through traffic has gone. Goodness knows where the traffic is all coming from, but Kendal is just as busy and congested as it ever was. The fact is that with the provision of new roads many more people wish to go to the Lake District on day trips than when I entered the House 10 years ago. There is a terrible danger that those who can so easily come to enjoy the beauties of the Lakes will destroy a great deal of what they come to admire.

I was most interested and fascinated to read the report of the National Parks Policy Review Committee, published only a few weeks ago. I hope that the House will soon be given the opportunity to debate that report, which clearly reflects the mounting difficulties which car ownership and the increasing use of the car cause for people in the national parks. What the report says about the national parks strikes the right note in terms of the Lake District.

We see in chapter 7.1 the following comment: The increase in car ownership during the last 20 years has been such that recreational trips by car are now the rule rather than the exception for the average family. The report continues, in chapter 7.2: For some motorists driving in attractive countryside is pleasure enough and any stops they may make are short. Others like to relax in one place, but have no desire to go far from their cars. That is a fact which we in the Lake District well understand.

I wish to draw one or two problems to the Government's attention and I hope that they will do all they can to ease the situation. First, I believe that it is important to try to direct the traffic outside the national park before it ever gets into the area. There is a great need for more information as traffic approaches the park. I understand that the Cumbria Tourist Board now has a service centre between Penrith and Carlisle. I believe that there is great need for similar centres. There is certainly a need for an information centre to serve traffic approaching from the south via the M6, for instance at the Burton service area. There is also need for another information centre to cope with the needs of traffic approaching from the east on the A66 somewhere near Penrith.

The Cumbria Tourist Board believes that there is great need to influence first-time, uncommitted holiday visitors to consider destinations beyond the national park. I hope that the Government will consider this point. I know that the board is anxious to have discussions with the Department as soon as possible to see whether other tourist information centres could be set up.

The majority of the traffic which comes to the Lake District emanates from the south-east. It comes from Yorkshire, Lancashire or the Midlands and from the southern part of England in particular. The Minister who is to reply knows this very well since he has particular knowledge of the Lancashire situation. The vast bulk of traffic comes up the M6 or from Yorkshire through Kirkby Lonsdale. When the new Kendal link road is completed in the next few months, the traffic will approach at that point; it will appear on the old A6 road just north of Levens Bridge.

I do not want to fight old battles with regard to the Kendal link road, because that matter has happily been resolved, but I should like the Minister to say whether he has any recent information as to the opening date of the Kendal link road. I received an answer on 25th March to the effect that it would be opened in September 1974. I have since had local information that it might be a somewhat optimistic guess or estimate. I hope that it is not. At least, I hope it is realistic. However, I have heard local rumours since that reply was published that it might be over-optimistic. It is important at that point, when the road is open, that there should be clear means of separating the traffic as it approaches the Lake District.

On 28th May I received a letter, for which I am most grateful, from the Minister's colleague, the Under-Secretary of State, in which he said that traffic was likely to be split and that clear direction signs would be provided both at Farleton and at the western end of the Kendal link road. That is good. We do not want all the traffic rushing up the A591, which is the main arterial route, right into the heartland of the Lake District. That road goes from Kendal through Windermere, Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick. In some places it is a very good road but in other places it is abysmal and wildly congested. I have always hoped that the day would come when it would be possible to get a complete ban on heavy lorries on that road.

It is important, from the amenity aspect in the Lake District, that the huge tankers which rumble through from and to West Cumberland should be banned from that road. It is absolute hell for the people living in the villages along that road to have these tankers rumbling through. It is even greater hell for the tourists staying in hotels and boarding houses who have come to the Lake District for peace and quiet to find themselves seemingly on a main arterial road out of a great city when great tankers come through from and to West Cumberland.

The ban on heavy lorries on the A591 must be seen in conjunction with the proposed improvement to the A66 between Keswick and Penrith. I suppose that this has been one of the most controversial road improvements proposed in recent years. I am sure that hon. Members representing Lake District areas—I am pleased to see my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lonsdale (Mr. Hall-Davis) present—have had as many letters as I have received from irate constituents about the improvement to the A66. But it seems clear, despite all the controversy, that the improvement will take place and that it will be an amenity setback to the Lake District. However, if we can get a ban on heavy lorries on the A591 I believe that will make up a good deal, if not almost all, of the debit that we shall have regarding the A66. If we can get heavy lorries banned from this road right through the heartland of the Lake District, we shall make up a great deal of lost ground. I was one of the first who, a few years ago, called for a ban on heavy lorries on that road. I must ask the Minister to give us some hope on this matter tonight.

I call in aid again the report of the National Parks Policy Review Committee, which in chapter 15.5 states: We recommend that investment in trunk roads should aim at developing routes for long distance traffic which avoid national parks…. We further recommend that where such routes are available, heavy through traffic should be prohibited from using roads in the national parks. That is important. I believe that that recommendation is absolutely right.

The Minister may say that nothing should be done until the improvement to the A66 is complete. I do not agree. I think that the ban ought to be brought into effect now. However, if the hon. Gentleman is to have his way, I suggest that he should give consideration to an early announcement—perhaps not tonight —that heavy traffic will be banned on the A591 after the A66 improvement is complete. I urge strongly that that should be done.

What form will the improvements to the A59 take? We are still awaiting inquiries on the Ambleside and Staveley bypasses. Can the Minister of State give us any idea when we shall get the result of the inquiries? Apart from the need to ban heavy traffic, there is still a need to improve that road.

I know how much the Minister of State likes the Lake District. I invite him to come with me to Ambleside any Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the holiday season and I will show him what Ambleside is like on a holiday weekend when there are no tankers in sight and when cars make up the whole of the traffic congestion and life is misery for those of my constituents who live in that place. Clearly something must be done about Ambleside and Staveley.

What is in the Department's mind about the type of road? Is the Minister intent on building dual carriageways all through here? Is it necessary to build dual carriageways? I cannot help feeling that good 24-ft. roads delicately planned and built would be helpful, provided that there were stretches every now and again of dual carriageway so that traffic could sort itself out, with cars which wanted to get ahead having the opportunity of overtaking slower vehicles.

There are other places within the national park where the congestion at holiday periods is appalling. These are places which are great beauty spots and where the roads are of necessity narrow and winding; and I hope that they will always remain so. I am thinking of places like Tarn Hows in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lonsdale, of Little Langdale, of Blea Tarn across Great Langdale in my constituency where the road is very narrow and where there are ghastly traffic jams. There is a photograph of one such jam in Little Langdale in the report to which I have referred.

There have been suggestions in the past that there should be a ban on cars in those areas and that the public should rely on public transport. That is the sort of scheme that there is in the Goyt Valley in the Peak District and in the Yosemite National Park in the United States, which I have seen for myself. Before we go in for a ban on cars it must be remembered that congestion happens on relatively few days in the year in these areas. It would be wildly uneconomic if the ban on cars were to be enforced and public transport put in its place. It would cost a fortune. It would also have a devastating effect on those who make their living in hotels, boarding houses and cafes. I hope that the Minister will insist that there should not be a ban on cars and an introduction of compulsory public transport until there is the very maximum of traffic thrombosis —in other words, only as a last resort.

I hope that the Minister will do his best to answer as many of my questions as he can in the time available to him.

10.19 p.m.

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Mr. Charles R. Morris)

I was impressed by the reasonableness and lucidity with which the hon. Member for Westmorland (Mr. Jopling) put his case on this important issue. I greatly appreciated his justifiable pride when he stated his belief that he represents the most beautiful constituency in the whole country. It seemed slightly contradictory of him later to question why so many thousands of motorists from the major industrial conurbations of South-East Lancashire and the industrial areas of Yorkshire find such delight in sharing the attractions of the Lake District.

I cannot stress too highly the fact that I as a Minister share the hon. Gentleman's concern for the conservation of the outstanding beauties and natural qualities of the Lake District. As the hon. Gentleman rightly indicated, it is just because of these features that so many people flock to the area in their motor cars and endanger the very beauties they go to see. This fact, now that improved road communications make the area easily accessible to a much larger proportion of the population, is one of the main considerations which I know have motivated the hon. Gentleman's concern. Problems of traffic in South-East Lakeland cannot be divorced from the overall problems of road traffic in the park as a whole. The special needs of the national park make it essential for there to be a very close relationship between the responsible authorities concerned and the fullest co-operation of all who have the interests of the area at heart.

The major routes leading to the Lake District are trunk roads and motorways for which the Secretary of State for the Environment is responsible, but the A591 between Kendal and Keswick, to which he referred, is a road for which the county council is responsible as highway and traffic authority.

On 1st April this year, as the hon. Gentleman is aware, the new Cumbria County Council became the appropriate authority as successor to the three former county councils—Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire. As he will know, a working group has been set up to carry out a study of traffic generation and distribution in the Lake District. The objective is to formulate traffic management proposals aimed at regulating the flow of different classes of vehicle and the parking of vehicles within and close to the national park. This will not only facilitate the movement of traffic but will protect the more sensitive areas from overexposure to the motor vehicle.

The working group will consist of the Cumbria County Council, the Lake District Planning Board the Cumbria Police, the Department's regional office, the Transport and Road Research Laboratory and the Countryside Commission. The group has already begun work on the collection of traffic data, and this will continue throughout the summer season. It is hoped to complete the first phase of the study by the end of this year in an attempt to bring initial traffic management proposals into effect by the council in time for the 1975 tourist season.

The study is proposed to continue next year, largely to establish traffic capacities of roads to suit their environment so that the management of the traffic and recreational activities can be suitably extended and further refined. The group's efforts will of necessity be directed particularly to conditions on the A591 which the hon. Gentleman has rightly drawn to my attention. The Cumbria County Council is the authority responsible for the road and it will be for that council to take final decisions in the light of recommendations from the study group and, indeed, any other sources.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the restriction of heavy goods vehicles from this road. It is, no doubt, a matter to which close consideration will be given, and obviously the county council will read the report of what the hon. Gentleman has said.

One factor which may weigh more strongly with the county council, however, is that improvements to the alternative routes via the A66 have not yet been completed and are unlikely to be completed for another two years or so. Improvements to the A591 are under consideration, and the question of the standards to which they should be constructed has been raised. This again is, in the first place, a matter for Cumbria; but in connection with the Ambleside relief road, as the hon. Gentleman indicated, a called-in planning proposal made by the former Westmorland County Council has been the subject of a local inquiry. Similarly an appeal against refusal of planning permission by the Lake District Planning Board for a bypass of Staveley has also been subject to inquiry.

The hon. Gentleman suggested that I might give an indication of when decisions will be made on the subject of these two inquiries. As he will appreciate, these proposals are sub judice and I am not able to comment on their merits. I hope the hon. Gentleman will understand my reasons for feeling obliged to say that. At this stage I cannot even give any indication of the date when the decision will be given, but I can give an assurance that we shall seek to bring these matters to a conclusion as soon as possible. I shall ensure that there will be no undue delay in making announcements regarding those decisions.

In each case, the standard to which improvements will be carried out is dependent on the decisions to be taken, and this, clearly, will have a bearing on the standards to be adopted elsewhere along the route.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the Levens-Kendal link road, and he asked me to say when this might be completed, adding that he had seen one report indicating that it was likely to be completed in September 1974. My latest information is that the Levens-Kendal link road is now expected to be completed in October 1974.

Consideration has been given to road direction signs, about which the hon. Gentleman asked, to be erected at either end of the link; namely, at the Farleton interchange on the M6 and at the junction of the link with the A6 trunk road. As has already been explained, traffic for the south lakes will be signed along the link road, and that for the north lakes along the M6 towards Penrith. At the western end of the link where it will join the A6, traffic for Grange and Newby Bridge will be directed to turn left, and traffic for Kendal and Windermere to continue along the A6. This form of signing has been agreed with the county council, and seems to represent the best solution to the problem. I was glad to note the hon. Gentleman's view that he shared the considered opinion that that is likely to be the best solution.

Apart from the specific matters which the hon. Gentleman has raised, there are interim proposals for the introduction of some experimental traffic orders during July this year which have already been publicised and are largely aimed at con- trolling the parking of vehicles on critical sections of various roads. If, following the consideration of any objections received, these orders are made, their effect will be watched during the remainder of the summer. The public will also be able to experience their effect in advance of our consideration of any recommendation by the study group for permanent traffic management control. Any views expressed will, of course, be taken into account.

The problems of the Lake District are symptomatic of problems generally in national parks. I noted the point made by the hon. Gentleman in regard to information centres, more of which he wishes to see established, and he rightly commented on the views of the Cumbria Tourist Board in this respect. I give him the assurance that I shall write to him separately in regard to that matter.

The hon. Gentleman referred to the report prepared by the National Park Policies Review Committee in November 1973. In the section dealing with roads and traffic in the parks, recommendations were made for alleviating the problems caused by heavy traffic demands, and these are receiving careful consideration. The general principle behind the recommendations, that the environmental quality of the parks must always be borne in mind when road planning and traffic management are under consideration, is one which we warmly endorse.

The hon. Gentleman very courteously extended an invitation to me to visit Ambleside with him. I shall be delighted to accept his invitation. If mutually convenient arrangements can be made, it will be an opportunity for me once again to enjoy the delights of the Lake District. However, I cannot accept the hon. Gentleman's final point when he suggested that at least for some people life is miserable in the Lake District. I know that there are great problems which those who reside in the Lake District are obliged to suffer as a result of the tremendous increase in traffic, but life in Lakeland miserable—never!

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at twenty-nine minutes past Ten o'clock.