Motorway Service Areas: Sites (Hansard, 24 November 1992)

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, it is for the private sector rather than the Government to identify sites for motorway service areas and take proposals forward. The Department of Transport retains a responsibility for ensuring that only service areas providing a minimum range of facilities are signed from the motorway.

§ Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that reply. Is he aware that it is possible to enter the M.25 at, say, Chertsey and drive all the way north as far as Hilton Park (around 120 miles) without passing a single service area? Is that not a hazard for drivers who travel that route regularly?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, that depends to some extent on the driver. The noble Lord will be aware that drivers can take an exit off the motorway if they choose. There are two sites that are nearing final planning consent on the stretch of motorway that he mentioned. The advantage of the change in the rules announced by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will help to resolve the situation.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, I have seen reports that it is government policy for motorway service areas to be provided every 15 miles. Does the Minister agree with that? I believe that that will be extremely obtrusive and wasteful of valuable land.

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the correct situation is that sites must be no less than 15 miles apart. That means that they are probably smaller and less intrusive developments than hitherto.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that on the M.3 and M.4 there are long distances with no service areas? That causes great inconvenience to motorists. Will he and his department do all they can to encourage the provision of additional stations?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I hoped that my noble friend would welcome what I said. Having now changed the situation to enable the private sector to come forward, we hope that the kind of gaps referred to by my noble friend will be filled.

§ Lord Monson
My Lords, American researchers have established that sober drivers who fall asleep at the wheel cause almost as many serious accidents as do 918 over-the-limit drivers who stay awake at the wheel. Therefore, does the noble Earl agree that there is an urgent need for the provision of more service areas to enable soporific drivers to keep up their caffeine intake?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the point is that it will be up to the private sector. I felt that that was something the noble Lord in particular would welcome. However, one of the rules of the department is that there will be no sale or consumption of alcohol at motorway service areas.

§ Lord Orr-Ewing
My Lords, when there are no service stations within a limited area, does not my noble friend agree that an indication at an exit that a garage exists three miles in either direction would be helpful? At the moment one has no idea whether there is a garage in either direction. It would be much easier and cheaper to provide signposting nearby.

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I have seen such signs, and that is something we are looking at, particularly in relation to the A.1.

§ Lord Cocks of Hartcliffe
My Lords, the Government accepted tenders in the past based on the previous policy. Is it not commercially unfair to change the goalposts when the money has been pocketed?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, from the mood of the House, I sense that most Members are in favour of the Government's policy, which is to provide more service areas by allowing the private sector to come forward.

§ Lord Aldington
My Lords, will my noble friend look also at the environmental aspects of service stations before planning permission is finally given? Does he realise that at least one approval was given for a service station against environmental interests purely because the cost was slightly —only slightly —lower than an alternative area? Is that not a pity?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, my noble friend raises an important point. Any proposal for a motorway service area will be subject to planning permission. In response to my noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter, I would say that perhaps that is one of the reasons there are so few.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, does the Minister agree that in regard to environmental considerations, the matter requires careful examination? The general environmental consequences, which may not only affect an area within a few miles but perhaps a greater area, are matters which should also be taken into strong account. In that regard, would it not be helpful for the Minister's department to give some guidance in regard to the environmental consequences?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, with all the local variations in this country, that is exactly what local authorities exist to do. It is best that the private developer puts forward a proposal to be considered by local authorities.