HL Deb 25 January 1967 vol 279 cc537-8

2.26 p.m.

Lord WAKEFIELD of KENDAL

My 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 why a simple aerial transport system such as was used at the Brussels Exhibition cannot be constructed to convey passengers and baggage between the West London Air Terminal and Gloucester Road Station.]

Lord SHEPHERD

My Lords, I do not think that the use likely to be made of such a system justifies an investigation of its practicability.

Lord WAKEFIELD of KENDAL

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, may I ask whether he has forgotten that at two General Elections promises were made for energetic technical advance, for scientific progress, and activity of all kinds, especially in so far as transport is concerned? How does the noble Lord reconcile those promises with the Answer that he has just given, when the Belgians did this most successfully in the middle of their capital several years ago?

Lord SHEPHERD

My Lords, I am well aware of the promises that this Government made in the 1964 and 1966 Elections. I will surprise the noble Lord: we intend to carry them out. In regard to the proposal which the noble Lord had made, it is a question of priority. The noble Lord will remember that last week I informed the House that a Group was considering the extension of the railway system from Victoria to Heathrow, that the Report is likely to be received some time this year, so that, in the view of the Government, it would be wrong to entertain any thought of special expense in regard to the difficulties that now exist at the West London Air Terminal.