§ 13. Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the number of road assessment studies for London now under consideration by his Department; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyNone. Consultants have been engaged to carry out assessment studies in four parts of the capital with very severe transport-related problems. They are currently assessing and testing a wide range of options which contain some road elements. Their reports are expected later this summer. We have also commissioned a study of the area around Heathrow and south-west London.
§ Mr. CoxIs the Minister aware that, whatever he may say, there is growing concern among constituents in many parts of London about the potential development of major "road improvements" in their area because they will not be improvements of the environment in which many of our constituents live; they will be problems? Will he give an assurance that, before there is any major road development in London, if local residents call for a public inquiry, he will support it?
§ Mr. BottomleyYes. I go further than that and invite the hon. Gentleman to go to the Rochester Way relief road, which was the last road built in inner London and started by the GLC under the hon. Member for Brent, East (Mr. Livingstone) and supported by a Labour council. The hon. Gentleman will see the environmental relief, the casualty reduction, and the opportunity for more jobs. I wish that the hon. Gentleman and others would spend as much time being concerned about the nearly 500 people who die every year on London's roads —the equivalent of a Sheffield Hillsborough every 10 weeks—and the thousands of people in London who are injured on our roads. Those issues need to be tackled with public transport and some road changes as well.