Heathrow: Road Congestion (Hansard, 19 June 1989)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Transport (Lord Brabazon of Tara)
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport has included in the current National Roads Programme improvement schemes at junctions 4 and 4a on the M4, at the A4/A312 Waggoners Corner junction, and the A4/A30 Henly's Corner junction.
He has also included in the recent White Paper a proposal for the M25 to be widened to dual four-lane standards, as well as commissioning studies to secure the best possible use of existing roads in the A4/M4 corridor, and to improve access to Heathrow from the wider south western quadrant of London.

§ Lord Rodney
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply. However, quite frankly, 6 I do not think it is the answer. The problem has very little to do with the national motorway system; it is primarily to do with the tunnel which leads to and from terminals 1, 2 and 3. Does not my noble friend agree that the tunnel is totally inadequate to deal with the present volume of traffic? Is my noble friend aware that on 19th May a bus broke down in the tunnel and blocked all the circulation for one hour? That resulted in some passengers who were travelling overseas losing their flights. In my opinion it is the tunnel and the circulation round the terminals which is the problem and not the motorways.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, roads within the airport boundary are, of course, the responsibility of the airport itself and not the Department of Transport. However, the airport operates a computerised urban traffic control system to aid the smooth flow of traffic through the tunnel and within the central terminal area. That system is monitored by a centrally controlled television camera. A dedicated staff is responsible for the roads at Heathrow. Further, a heavy recovery vehicle is continuously available to speed the recovery of vehicles in an emergency, or in a breakdown such as my noble friend described. I shall of course draw my noble friend's complaints to the attention of the appropriate authority and hope that something can be done to alleviate the problem.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that many people who have missed flights for the reasons described by the noble Lord, Lord Rodney, will not be satisfied with that reply? It may be that, technically, responsibility lies with the British Airports Authority but the public roads are also affected. Is the noble Lord aware that the incident which has been referred to is not the only one? Is he aware that my noble friend Lady Robson of Kiddington was involved in a similar incident a week ago yesterday when she was kept waiting in a bus for an hour and a half before she was able to leave? That was not an isolated incident, and will the Department of Transport look into the matter in more detail than it has so far?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, the noble Lord said that that was not an isolated incident. That may well be the case, but it is the first time in two years that my attention has been drawn to troubles of that kind. I cannot believe that there has been a great problem. However, I shall look into the situation which has been described.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, will my noble friend consider the damage caused to the tourist industry by the frequent hold-ups which occur in getting into or out of Heathrow by the public road system outside it?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, that is why in my original Answer I described some of the improvements which we propose to the public road network outside the airport.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, in his first reply the Minister dealt with the position with regard to public 7 roads outside the airport. In the light of the other questions put to the Minister can he tell us what liaison there is between Heathrow Airport or the British Airports Authority and the Department of Transport? From his Answer it would appear that the liaison is rather weak, whereas surely there must be liaison with regard to public roads to the airport and roads within the airport?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, the staff at Heathrow Airport maintain close liaison with the Department of Transport, the police and the local authorities involved.

Lord Morris
My Lords, does the British Airports Authority have any plans to build relief tunnels not for general use but for use when the existing tunnels are blocked in the kind of emergency described by my noble friend Lord Rodney?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I am not aware of any plans to build a further tunnel. The authority does have plans to build a railway link from Paddington to Heathrow, which I hope will go forward if the authority can produce a route which will satisfy your Lordships' Select Committee.

The Viscount of Oxfuird
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that in Hong Kong they have a specially adapted forklift truck to retrieve broken down buses and similar large vehicles from the tunnel under the harbour? Does he agree that that might perhaps be a way of solving this particular problem?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I note my noble friend's suggestion and I shall pass it on to the appropriate people.