§ LORD RHODESMy 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 indicate when a starting date for the proposed (Barrow) (Arnside) Link Road can be announced.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (LORD SHEPHERD)My Lords, an announcement on an estimated starting date cannot yet be made. The North-Western Road Construction Unit is at present making a study of the proposal in the detail needed to decide the priority it should have in the firm programme in competition with many other road schemes. After this, the statutory procedures of the Highways Act 1959 for the establishment of the line, which will involve a major bridge crossing of the River Kent estuary and the procedure for the acquisition of land, have to be gone through. There are all the other procedures that have to be gone through, including the questions of appeals and compulsory purchase. It may be possible for tenders to be invited by about the early part of 1971.
§ LORD RHODESMy Lords, would the Minister assure me that this is not just part of a series of delaying tactics? Is he aware that 63,000 people live in Barrow itself, 40,000 on the Furness peninsula; that large sums of public money are going into this area, which is a development area, and that much of it will be wasted unless first-class communications are established with the M.6 motorway.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, this is clearly an important development for that area. I can assure my noble friend that 845 this is not a delaying tactic. If it were, as I told the Department this morning, it is unlikely that they could succeed as they have, I gather, a rather good Lord Lieutenant.
LORD INGLEWOODMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware that it is not just Barrow-in-Furness that depends for its future life on improved communications, but also the southern part of the West Cumberland coast, where there is considerable industrial development which urgently requires improved communications but which will gain no benefit from the link road through Penrith? Is he aware that there is a great fear in that district—because the population is not very great, and the traffic counts on these roads will not be high as against the counts on roads joining up two large towns—that they will never get sufficiently high up the list for this work to be started?
§ LORD RHODESMy Lords, before the Minister answers that question, may I ask him—
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I am sorry to interrupt the noble Lord, but we shall get into chaos at Question Time if we have two questioners interpreting one another.
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, quite clearly in this particular area, with its rapid development, there are many areas that need major development; and these are all being considered by my right honourable friend.
§ LORD RHODESMy Lords, is the Minister aware that the economic returns on this road have been proven; that the estimated return is 26 per cent., and on that basis the economics are assured, and the road would be well used?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the question that my noble friend has put.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the decision to construct this road is now many years old—possibly two decades old; that North-West Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland require it, and that the North-West of England has been noted in a very recent Report as an area that requires development?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, I fully agree with the noble Lord. The unfortunate fact is that there are other areas which can make an equally strong case. This is the point that my right honourable friend has to take into account, judging one with another.
§ LORD RHODESMy Lords, is the Minister aware that there is no area in the United Kingdom with a concentrated population like this which is so isolated, and that what it needs above everything else is a link with the outside world?