§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of Slate for the Environment what are the calculated financial returns he requires for specific schemes of new road construction, costing less than £4 million; and if any such scheme must necessarily contain social and environmental benefits in addition to benefits for traffic in order to gain his approval.
§ Mr. SpeedInter-urban road schemes in the national programme are generally required to show a positive net present value as calculated using the recently introduced CoBA method of economic appraisal. Social, environmental and other benefits are also taken into account.