HC Deb 17 March 1986 vol 94 cc8-9
7. Mr. Cartwright

asked the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the consultants' reports on the four London assessment studies.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

Later this year.

Mr. Cartwright

Is the Minister satisfied with the fact that it has already taken more than 18 months to produce an initial report merely identifying problems in four of London's main traffic corridors? In view of the doubt and uncertainty that those studies inevitably create in the areas concerned, how much longer will we have to wait before we see, not the problems, but the solutions to those problems being put forward?

Mr. Bottomley

The hon. Gentleman will accept that one of the reasons for the extended period for the first stage is public consultation. People want to be involved and to give their views. The second problem is that the GLC was not co-operative in sharing opportunities for gaining information.

Mr. Dubs

Is not the truth that the proposed trunk roads and other schemes in London are enormously unpopular and that the Minister is worried lest news gets out before the local elections, because that will have a cataclysmic effect on the prospects of Tories standing on 8 May?

Mr. Bottomley

That sort of scaremongering comes ill from the hon. Gentleman, although we might have expected it from some of his hon. Friends. The plain truth is that anyone who lives in or represents south London is aware of the massive traffic problems and how residents are having to cope with through traffic. We are not proposing new trunk roads in those areas, but we are trying to look at the problems and come forward with solutions. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman has a word with me and the hon. Member for Woolwich (Mr. Cartwright) afterwards.