§ 2.35 p.m.
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consider making it illegal for eastbound traffic along the Strand to turn right into Savoy Court.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD CHESHAM)My Lords, my right honourable friend has already considered the matter. This turn does cause some difficulty at certain times, but my right honourable friend cannot see how he can prohibit it without causing worse difficulties at other points, and particularly at the congested junction of the Strand and the northern approach to Waterloo Bridge.
THE EARL OF ARRANMy Lords, are Her Majesty's Government aware that turning right in this way into the Court, which is in fact the front drive into the Savoy Hotel, seriously holds up traffic, particularly at the luncheon hour, and necessitates the special station of a policeman on point duty at the junction? Are Her Majesty's Government further aware that the Savoy Hotel has another, alternative and perfectly good entrance on the Embankment?
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government were naturally aware of the matters to which the noble Earl refers, and I think I have in fact covered his supplementary questions in my original Answer.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, the noble Lord would agree, would he not, that right-hand turns are one of the chief causes of traffic conges- 78 tion and accidents, in company with quite a number of other things, and that right-hand turns in thickly populated areas of the kind to which this Question refers will one day have to be prohibited?
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, I am naturally aware of the troubles caused by right-hand turns. I should like to assure the noble Lord that the solution does not lie, as was suggested recently by my son, in altering the Construction and Use Regulations so that motor cars have no right lock.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether he is exercising a certain privilege in this matter? Would he adopt the same attitude for a small, obscure, unknown hotel?
§ LORD CHESHAMYes, my Lords.
THE EARL OF ARRANThe noble Lady has taken away my supplementary, which was almost in the same terms. I was going to ask whether Her Majesty's Government would adopt the same attitude if the road in question were not the approach to the Savoy Hotel but to Rowton House.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, this question has been viewed entirely as a traffic matter. I should think that if the circumstances of the hotel which lies at the end of Savoy Court were different, perhaps there would not be the same volume of traffic.
§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I missed the opening part of the Answer, for which I apologise, but perhaps I may ask just one question. In view of the diversions that are already made owing to one-way streets, and the very great delays and difficulties in remembering where they are, would it not be possible for traffic to go round Aldwych and via the Embankment?
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, of course anybody who so wishes is free to use the Embankment entrance. Whether that would be among the problems which would be created by the solution of another, I cannot exactly say. All I know is that the prohibition of this particular right turn would create other and, as we see it, outweighing 79 problems at other points. I think that perhaps one of the most fortunate aspects of this question is that when this particular right turn is causing trouble is not at the peak traffic times in the Strand.
§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHI should have thought the contrary, if you consider the theatre traffic as well at the particular time that people dine.
§ LORD CHESHAMYes, my Lords; but the peak is still the normal peak—around nine o'clock in the morning or six o'clock in the evening.