HC Deb 18 April 1988 vol 131 cc537-9
6. Mr. Chapman

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of motorway are currently under construction; how many miles are planned to be built in the next five years; and how many miles have been completed in the last five years.

Mr. Channon

Over 160 miles of motorway construction and improvement have been completed in the last five years. Almost 60 miles are under construction. We are today announcing several additions to our road programme, including our decision that the Blackburn southern bypass will be built as a motorway. This brings our motorway construction programme to 150 milles over the next five years.

Mr. Chapman

Does my right hon. Friend agree that many more miles of motorways or motorway standard roads are needed if we are to have an adequate and modern road system? Does he further agree that, by and large, motorway building brings great safety and environmental benefits to the community as a whole, even if some people in local neighbourhoods are adversely affected? Does he agree that the priority in his road-building programme should be to remove voluminous and heavy vehicles from many inadequately designed roads within the centres of residential areas?

Mr. Channon

Yes, I agree with a great deal of what my hon. Friend has said. That is why we have such a large motorway programme. Of course, some of the points raised in the latter part of his question can be solved by bypasses, for which we also have a large programme. For the speed of communications that businesses want increasingly, it is extremely important to have better and faster communications, and that means more motorways and trunk roads. It is also a great help to safety, because motorways are by far the safest roads in the country, and I am sure that the House will have been pleased to see that the recent provisional road statistics show that casualties are very much down.

Mr. Campbell-Savours

What is the Government's policy on motorway tolls? Is any work being done in the Department on toll stations being placed on the existing motorway network, and does the Minister have any proposals for tolls on roads to be built in the future?

Mr. Channon

I am looking at all ways of encouraging private sector infrastructure, but I certainly have no plans for putting tolls on existing roads.

Mr. Simon Coombs

The House will undoubtedly welcome my right hon. Friend's announcement today about further expenditure on motorways. Does he agree that there is an appalling waste of time and resources on overcrowded motorways on the present network? Will he tell the House what plans he has to look at the widening of existing motorways—apart from the M25—particularly the M4 east and west of the M25, which every day constitutes a major aggravation for many thousands of motorists trying to reach London?

Mr. Channon

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The growth of road traffic has meant that some of the motorways are no longer as adequate as they were to deal with the enormous amount of traffic on them. We shall keep that under review. It makes it all the more important that we should continue with a proper programme of building motorways and trunk roads so that we can deal with the increasing problems.

Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman

Does my right hon. Friend accept that in my constituency we are grateful for the excellent standards of motorways, which enable businesses to come readily to Lancaster and tourists to come to our lovely city? But we want not only motorways: we want motorway links. Will my right hon. Friend please consider seriously the M6 link?

Mr. Channon

I was rather nervous about my hon. Friend's question. I thought that there would be a sting in the tail. I shall certainly consider anything that he puts to me. I have opened one motorway link in the past few months. We have that very much in mind as well. It is a question of priorities as to how one spends the money in the roads programme. All I can say is that the roads programme of £3 billion over the next five years is enormous by anyone's standards. It is far higher than in the past, and we shall look at all proposals.