§ 2.37 p.m.
§ EARL FORTESCUEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of the congested and dangerous state of the A.34 trunk road running south from Oxford to Newbury and Winchester; and whether they can hold out any prospect of improving the section between Oxford and Abingdon.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD LINDGREN)My Lords, my right honourable friend is aware that major improvement of the A.34 trunk road south of Oxford is needed. His longterm plan is to provide dual carriageways on this road with by-passes as required. A length of the Oxford Southern By-pass is already being constructed to this standard, and my right honourable friend has asked the Berkshire County Council, as agent authority, to prepare plans for extending the dual carriageways for a further twelve miles southwards to by-pass Abingdon. Meanwhile, other improvements are scheduled to start next year.
§ EARL FORTESCUEMy Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply, but I think the local inhabitants will not find it completely satisfying. Is the Minister aware that this is the only route directly connecting the Birmingham area and Southampton, and that an increasing amount of traffic is being funnelled on to it as the motor roads in the neighbour- 982 hood of Birmingham are connected up? Also, when the Oxford By-pass is completed is it not likely that even more traffic will be funnelled on to this very poor road going south from Oxford?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, a considerable amount of work is already programmed for next year. There is to be work on a relief road within Abingdon itself, which will cost £72,000; there is the Rowstock crossroads, where work will be commenced next year, at a cost of £30,000; and construction of the by-pass at East Ilsley also will start next year, at a cost of £600,000. For the noble Earl's information, too, the Member for Abingdon is bringing a deputation to see us some time next week in regard to the by-pass; but I cannot hold out any hope that the by-pass will be commenced in the near future.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that it was quite evident as soon as the project of the Oxford ring road was mooted, now 25 years ago, that the A.34 required reconstruction? That is, as the noble Earl stated and as the noble Lord admits, the main road from Birmingham to Southampton. Is the noble Lord also aware that the plans for by-passing Abingdon have now lain on the Minister's desk for over twelve months? Is he further aware that the Minister has not yet been able to make up his mind? Moreover, is he further aware that no major reconstruction of the A.34 has taken place since before the First World War, when the Winchester By-pass was started and completed to absorb unemployment and when the Oxford By-pass was started and completed for the same reason? Is this not—the noble Lord will perhaps agree—further evidence of the new-found philosophy of the Ministry of Transport, that forty years' delay is "not a day too much"?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, with the greatest respect, I can answer for only the last forty days, and all the decisions I have referred to already were decisions of the previous Administration. I think it is only fair to say that that Administration had made arrangements for the spending of a considerable sum in the area apart from the Abingdon By-pass. My information is different from that of the noble Lord. It is a question of whether the by-pass should go east or 983 west of Abingdon, and the Berkshire County Council cannot make up their minds in regard to it. There are vested interests in regard to the ownership of land.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHWill the noble Lord accept an assurance that my information is directly contrary to his? My information is that that the Berkshire County Council put before the Ministry of Transport two alternative plans twelve months ago, and that the Ministry of Transport have not been able to make up their minds. How long, might I ask the noble Lord, are we to be fobbed off with the answer that the acquisition of land takes so long that we cannot have proper highways in this country?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, I do not think I ought to be drawn into arguments between the Ministry and the local authority. It is true that the local authority have tried to place the responsibility for the decision on to the Ministry, while the previous Minister, rightly or wrongly, said that the local people ought to determine, as far as they could, where the road should go and, in the light of that decision, he would make his decision.
§ EARL FORTESCUEMy Lords, further to my Question may I ask whether the Minister is aware that the strip of road between Oxford and Abingdon has not been changed in dimension, line or fencing since I drove a four-in-hand along there fifty years ago—and it was barely wide enough then? Further, is there any reason why the fences on the bends should not be removed and iron railings substituted, and the trees which obscure the view felled?
§ LORD LINDGRENYes, my Lords, I would agree, and so would the Ministry, that the A.34, together with many other roads throughout the country, is substandard. Improvements were made by the previous Administration, which will be continued and, I hope, improved on by the present Administration. But there must be priorities and on this road the density of traffic and the accident rate are not as high as on other roads. Priorities have to take account of density of traffic and the accident rate on the roads.