§ Mr. R. McNEILLasked the Minister of Transport who is responsible for the conveyance of military lorries and stores from Richborough to other parts of the country; whether he is aware that for many months there has been a continual traffic of such lorries by road through East Kent by night as well as by day; that the nuisance so caused is intolerable to the inhabitants of villages through which the traffic passes, making sleep impossible, shaking houses to their foundations, and occasioning a plague of noise and dust; and that this traffic further involves the constant repair of the local roads at great cost to the ratepayers; and whether, in order to abate the nuisance, he will provide, or persuade the authority responsible for the removal to provide, that any lorries or other stores remaining at Richborough for removal shall be conveyed to their destination by rail or sea instead of by road?
§ Mr. NEALThere has been no heavy transport by lorries from Richborough on Government behalf for some time past. My information is to the effect that the lorries to which my hon. Friend refers belong to a private firm, to whom they have been sold by the Disposal Board, and that the number of lorries still to be688W delivered to the firm is comparatively small. As far as concerns the damage stated to have been done to the roads, it rests with the highway authorities to take any action they consider desirable with the company concerned.