§ 4. Mr A. J. Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed)If he will make a statement about the Al multi-modal study. [71415]
§ The Minister for Transport (Mr. John Spellar)We are currently considering the recommendations of the Al multi-modal study. We will make a statement once we have fully considered all the issues.
§ Mr. BeithIn considering the issues, will the Minister take account of the views of most of the local authorities and the general public that the failure of the study to recommend dualling of the A1 right up to the border will leave a serious gap in the road system? Head-on collisions regularly take place on that road and at least one of the vehicles involved has usually just travelled a long distance on dual carriageway. Is the right hon. Gentleman also aware that there is considerable scepticism that the promised train improvements will ever take place or will be sufficient to meet the needs of people living in areas such as Belford or Widrington, which are not specifically included?
§ Mr. SpellarAll the multi-modal studies have to weigh up the balance within the regions and, nationally, we must consider how those fit together. The right hon. Gentleman will be fully aware that the north-east will benefit considerably from the widening of the Al further south in Yorkshire and into Northumberland, which, 164 although it is not in his region, will be be of considerable benefit to the north-east. Beyond that, the multi-modal study had to look at the volume of traffic being carried and also—another important consideration—the road safety aspects.
The right hon. Gentleman is right: there have been comments from some local bodies, but many local authorities and other interest groups in the region were involved in the study group, as indeed they have been in all other regions. We are evaluating the study, both internally for the north-east and as regards other investment across the country, to see how it fits into the national transport network. I shall take the right hon. Gentleman's views into account as we undertake that evaluation.
§ Mr. Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow)I will buy the Minister a pint in the bar tonight if he can give me a comparable example of two major neighbouring cities the size of Newcastle and Edinburgh that are not linked by dual carriageway. We all know about multi-modal rubbish, but I remind the Minister that people who use roads such as the A1s are not computers—so will he review the position with a view to throwing the study in the bin and getting a proper road between Edinburgh and Newcastle, instead of linking them, in some parts, by no more than a glorified country lane?
§ Mr. SpellarAh well, I will be buying my own pint again tonight.
My hon. Friend will be aware that there is another party to the discussion—the Scottish Executive. They will have views about the priority among Scotland's roads that they give the A1 from the border up to Edinburgh.
A number of road schemes have already been developed. Other multi-modal studies will be coming in. I have already mentioned the widening of the A1 to motorway standard going up to the north-east. I also made an announcement recently about the dualling of the A66 from the north-west to the north-east. Those are major schemes and the proposals have to be evaluated. To some extent that is what the local organisations represented on the study group were doing.
§ Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)May I draw the House's attention to my declaration of interest in the Register of Members' Interests?
I welcome the conclusion in the multi-modal study that the A1 will be made up to motorway status between Bramham and Barton. Does the Minister join me in regretting that it will be a full seven years at least before that road is built? Will he give a commitment to the House today that there will be a moratorium on the building of motorway service stations on that stretch until we know exactly where the new motorway will be?
§ Mr. SpellarI would point out to the hon. Lady that, when in government, her party removed a number of the powers in respect of motorway service station location and allowed motorway service operators to make their own bids. Of course, if that question was a bid for us to change that particular legislative position we might have a look at it.
165 As regards the time taken to build the road, a key issue for the highways authorities—especially with any major widening project—is that, for understandable reasons, they want to do only so much at any one time, precisely because of the inevitable delays for on-going traffic. It is much easier when building a new road, such as the Birmingham northern relief road: widening an existing highway is a different issue. We are, therefore, trying to speed up the process, partly in the time taken by planning but also by estimating and engineering work. We are doing much of that work in parallel, rather than taking one step after another. That is compressing the time between making a decision to build a road and actually opening that road. As the hon. Lady knows, we have also been looking at how we can improve planning, while maintaining the proper right of people to lodge objections and taking into account environmental impact assessments. We are considering whether that needs to take so much time and how we can compress it. We have made some progress but we still have a way to go and we are working on that.
§ Mr. David Clelland (Tyne Bridge)May I add my support to the points that have been made about the A1 north of Newcastle? There is also a very serious problem on that road around the Tyneside conurbation, and specifically on the Gateshead western bypass. Although I welcome the fact that the proposal to relieve that problem by building another bypass through Gateshead's green belt has now been dropped from the plan, there is still a growing problem on that road—a serious problem, which is getting worse week by week. The road is very often brought to a standstill because of the congestion. I ask my right hon. Friend to look at that as a matter of urgency, and also particularly to look at the imaginative proposals of Gateshead council to relieve congestion on that road.
§ Mr. SpellarMy hon. Friend has indeed raised this matter with me before. I undertake to have a further look at the new proposals, which he has just mentioned, and come back to him with a reply.