HL Deb 13 May 1958 vol 209 cc248-9

3.24 p.m.

THE EARL OF DUNDEE

My 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 on what dates, at what places, and under what conditions they are proposing to hold the census of traffic which the Secretary of State for Scotland has decided upon, to provide evidence of the need for a road bridge across the Firth of Tay.]

THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD STRATHCLYDE)

At a meeting on May 20, 1957, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland agreed that the technical, financial, and economic implications of the Tay Bridge Scheme should be examined. Accordingly, Dundee Corporation and Fife County Council, at his suggestion, propose to hold an origin and destination survey of traffic for a week during August at the Tay ferry and at suitable points on the Perth—Dundee and the Perth—Forfar—Stonehaven roads. The detailed arrangements have not yet been settled, but the object is to obtain information about the long-distance traffic which might use a road bridge at Dundee.

THE EARL OF DUNDEE

My Lords, will the Government bear in mind that a census of the number of vehicles trying to use the present obsolete and slow methods of transit is a very poor guide to the number of vehicles that might use a modern bridge? In view of all the preparatory work which has been done locally on the subject, can my noble friend say what is the earliest date on which a Provisional Order Bill to enable the bridge to be constructed would receive facilities?

LORD STRATHCLYDE

My Lords, no; I could not give the noble Earl any definite date as to when a Provisional Order might be promoted. I understand that such a Provisional Order is in the meantime under consideration by the town council of Dundee, but I do not know when it will come before this House or before Parliament. As to the other point, there are in existence at the present moment censuses of the number of vehicles using these roads, but that is not the point we are trying to get at. What we are trying to get at is the number of long-distance vehicles that would be likely to use this bridge, and the only way in which one can get at that is by taking the census to which I have referred.