§ Mr. John Fraser (Norwood)I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, North-East (Mr. Barnes) for, through no fault of mine, interrupting his speech about events in his constituency.
I wish to present a petition on behalf of 3,500 people, principally residents of Tulse Hill in my constituency,which reads:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland assembled.The humble Petition of the residents of Tulse Hill sheweth.That it is proposed to alter the London South Circular road by way of a cut and cover tunnel under the Tulse Hill junction and to widen the said road to a four lane standard.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your honourable House rejects such proposals to alter the South Circular road and instead to give urgent consideration to the development of alternative and improved public transportation in South London.And your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray etc.The consultation on the south circular road ends today,28 February, so this is an eleventh-hour plea for the plans not to go ahead. It was a bombshell just before Christmas to find that there was an unheralded plan to convert the south circular into a four-lane highway and to destroy much of the Tulse Hill district in my constituency with a cut-and-cover tunnel while neatly avoiding the Prime Minister's house, only about half a mile further along the south circular road.The Tulse Hill tunnel proposals have caused great anger. There has already been an extensive realignment at Tulse Hill to accommodate the south circular road. My constituents find it impossible to believe that this could be proposed, given the shortage of homes and decades of cuts in public transport. Thousands of constituents have written to me——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member must not make a speech. He is presenting a petition.
§ Mr. FraserI am coming to the end, Mr. Speaker. Thousands of constituents have written to me and gone to meetings, and I hope that the House will recognise the force of their feelings, which this petition represents.
§ To lie upon the Table.