HC Deb 27 October 1982 vol 29 cc1025-7
7. Mr. Knox

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of new motorway construction and how many miles of new trunk road construction have been started in the current financial year.

Mrs. Chalker

Work has actually started on or contracts let for 15 miles of motorway and 29 miles of trunk road so far in the current financial year. By next March we plan to have started about 100 miles in all this year, of which about half will be motorways.

Mr. Knox

In view of the inadequacy of the present motorway and major trunk road network to carry today's traffic, does my hon. Friend agree that the figures are low? Does she further agree that a higher proportion of public expenditure should be used for new road construction?

Mrs. Chalker

The proportion allocated for spending in 1982–83 is £695 million, of which £522 million is for new construction. We are certainly moving ahead in dealing with the motorway gaps, as my hon. Friend might call them. For example, the public inquiry into the M40 started in September. I do not agree that the record is bad. Last year we completed 77 miles of trunk roads and motorways. This year we are looking to complete 87 miles, or more. We have started a further 103 miles. That is not a bad record. The figures are going up all the time.

Mr. Campbell-Savours

Is the Under-Secretary of State aware that the A69, which links the north-west town of Carlisle with the north-east town of Newcastle, is vital to the development of the Northern region? Since for much of its length the road has not been improved, will she take a special interest in it and secure money for its improvement in the near future?

Mrs. Chalker

I shall take a special look at the A69. Many of the improvements planned for next year and the year after may seem small in themselves, but they are improvements which were lacking under the Labour Government.

Mr. Crouch:

Will my hon. Friend bear in mind the strong feeling among constituents that the A299—the Thanet Way—which runs from the end of the M2 at Brenley Corner to Thanet for about 20 miles, is inadequate for today's traffic? Is she aware that too many people-26 in all—have died on that road in the past three years? Does she agree that something must—I emphasise "must"—be done to put that right? Does she further agree that the only solution is to turn the road into a dual carriageway trunk road?

Mrs. Chalker

My hon. Friend will recall that when I visited Thanet Way on 30 July I commented to him that many of the road signs were not as good as I had hoped. We have asked Kent county council to look into that matter. The level of traffic, although the road is busy, does not yet justify a dual carriageway. I have also asked the county council to consider the number of access points, because they are the cause of many of the accidents.

Mr. Foster

Is the Under-Secretary aware that recently Conservative Members of the European Parliament gave unanimous support to a resolution of the Committee on Transport calling for an integrated transport system within which rail would have priority? Is she further aware that it made a bid for a fund of £6 million for rail infrastructure? Will she urge the Secretary of State to support that proposal when it goes to the Council of Ministers?

Mrs. Chalker

My right hon. Friend is considering all those matters. This year he has announced an increase from 50 to 60 per cent. in the section 8 grant for taking heavy goods traffic off roads and on to rail. Already 200,000 movements by rail have taken place as a result of my right hon. Friend's initiatives in the past year.