§ 3.5 p.m.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government when it is intended to widen the Denham end of the Western Avenue, observing that the present relative bottleneck is most dangerous.]
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD MANCROFT)My Lords, my right honourable friend hopes to fit into his programme a scheme to provide dual carriageways on the Denham end of the Western Avenue, but this is not likely to be possible for some time.
§ EARL HOWEMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord if he is aware that dual carriageways at the end of Western Avenue were partly completed before the war? There is a bridge about half built—the piers of the bridge are there but not the decking. And may I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware that the present state of affairs is extremely dangerous, the road being not wide enough for three lines of traffic but, on the other hand, not narrow enough to prevent them from trying?
§ LORD CONESFORDMy Lords, what is a "relative bottleneck"?
§ LORD MANCROFTMy Lords, in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Cones-ford, I can only assume, having listened to the supplementary question the noble Earl has put to me, that he regards a "relative bottleneck" as the "father and mother" of all bottlenecks. In answer to the noble Earl's supplementary question, I am aware of the facts which he has given the House. We hope to complete this portion of the Western Avenue when we can. The noble Earl, I think, is not strictly accurate when he says that this area is very dangerous. 348 The casualty figures relating to this particular stretch are not so serious as for some other places which—rightly, I think—have been given higher priority.
§ EARL HOWEMay I ask the noble Lord whether he will be so good, when he can find the time, as to drive down this road himself. He will then be able to judge whether it is dangerous or not. I suggest that Lord Conesford should do the same.