PLANNING PERMISSION, ETC (Hansard, 21 July 1987)

§ Mr. David Mitchell
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment. This is a minor drafting improvement.

§ Mr. David Shaw
The amendment relates to vehicle movements, and I am worried about the fact that, in Dover, we have a road which is a national disgrace. That is the part of the A2 known as Jubilee way between Lydden and Dover port. Recently, that road has been dug up regularly — I can confirm that it has happened during the past six months — and despite that, it has unfortunately been impossible to add another lane. Traffic 259 delays are horrendous when it is being dug up and when it has been in single-lane use. I hope that the Government will consider the full dualling of the carriageway on the final seven miles from Lydden into the port in the not-too-distant future. After all, the road is the main export route into Europe.
I was pleased when the House of Lords Select Committee realised that the road was needed. But the Department of Transport has said that the requests from Kent county council are "under review" and are receiving "active consideration". As we know, that can be bureaucratic wording meaning that the matter is sitting on a desk somewhere. I hope that the road proposals will soon come to the fore among the papers on that desk and that it will be improved. The accident rate and the traffic rate justify the upgrading to a dual carriageway. The East Kent coroner, who has had to deal with several deaths on the road, will support my words.

§ Mr. Mitchell
I have listened carefully to what my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Mr. Shaw) said about the A2. Traffic on the M2-A2 corridor will undoubtedly decrease when the final secton of the M20 from Maidstone to Ashford and the A20 from Folkestone to Dover are complete. For several years, it has been the Department's policy that the M20-A20 should be the principal route between London and both the ports and the Channel tunnel. The planning of improvements to the network has taken place on that basis.
As my hon. Friend said, the stretch of road which causes the greatest anxiety is the section between Lydden and Dover. Our traffic forecasts for the narrowest sections of that road assume that, by the time the Channel tunnel opens in 1993, the M20 will be complete, the new stretch of A20 from Folkestone to Dover will be open and most of the long-distance traffic to Dover as well as to the Channel tunnel will have transferred to the M20-A20 corridor. On that basis, the narrowest section of the A2 will be running well within the appropriate departmental recommended standards. Even by the year 2008, and taking an assumption of high economic growth, the road is still expected to be operating well within the recommended flow levels for a single carriageway.
There is then the question of what will happen if the A20 improvements, especially to the eastern half, which will be done under Highways Act procedures, are delayed despite the Government's best efforts. It is highly questionable whether improvements to the A2 could be carried out any sooner than delayed improvements to the A20, if our timetable on that is not met. But in the light of my hon. Friend's comments, I fully accept that in the event of a major delay to the A20 improvements, we should be prepared to consider the option of improvements to the A2. I hope that that assurance at least partially satisfies my hon. Friend.