§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government if they will see that the Kingsway Tunnel, which has been out of use since it was used for the passage of tramcars, is brought into use for road traffic, and so make a contribution to the relief of the congestion on London streets.]
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, the possibility of using the Kingsway Tunnel, which is the property of the British Transport Commission, for road traffic was the subject of a careful investigation carried out in 1952 by a technical committee appointed by the Minister of Transport. That committee came to the conclusion, after examining various alternatives, that if the subway was to be used for traffic, the most satisfactory scheme would cost £1,200,000, and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who was then Minister of Transport, decided that, having regard to the likely advantages of such an adaptation of the subway or indeed of any other alternative scheme and the very high costs, the money, if available, could be used to better advantage in other ways. The report is of a highly technical nature and I am arranging to have a copy placed in the Library for noble Lords to study.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, would the noble Lord accept my thanks for the fullness of his reply. I do not intend to say anything now that might prejudice my own or anyone else's study of the report. But would the noble Lord convey to his right honourable friend the surprise that has been occasioned to most of us, in these times when his right honourable friend is at his wit's end to know what to do about the congestion of London traffic, to learn that a tunnel 2,000 yards long cannot even be used as a one-way street?
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, I will certainly convey those sentiments to my right honourable friend, who is, of course, beset with expensive schemes but has only a limited amount of money with which to carry them out.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, would my noble friend consider its possible use as a car park if it cannot be used as a traffic artery?
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, the Committee went into this matter carefully, and their conclusion was that as, as a car park, it would hold only 95 cars. there again the cost was out of proportion to the benefit.