§ 2.50 p.m.
§ LORD WOLVERTONMy 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 when they are going to issue the Draft Order for the proposed Newmarket By-Pass, which is now a matter of great urgency, in view of the great build-up of traffic owing to the convergence, through the High Street of the town, of the two major roads A.11 and A.45.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD LINDGREN)My Lords, a draft Order under Section 7 of the Highways 152 Act, 1959, will be published as soon as the preparatory work has been completed. But priority must be given to other, more urgent needs.
§ LORD WOLVERTONMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his reply, may I ask him at about what time this draft Order will be laid?—because we were given to understand last year that it would be laid in the spring of this year. Until it is laid the weight of objections to the branch route cannot be fully ascertained, and until that is done we cannot, of course, get in the queue for the money required.
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, the ground survey is nearly completed. The soil mechanics are about to start on the soil survey. The draft Order will be published at about the end of the year or early in 1966. But even the publication date of the Order might be misleading because it might lead people to believe that this scheme has a higher priority, and I am afraid its priority is rather low.