§ Sir David Rentonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now announce his decision on the route for M1-A1 link road.
§ Dr. GilbertI am conscious of the need to improve road communications between the Midlands and the east coast ports. The recent consultation exercise was carried out on four possible alternative route corridors linking the M1 to the A1. I have received advice on these corridors—described as green, red, blue and yellow in the consultation exercise—from a wide range of sources including those living in the area and, taking their views and all other relevant factors into account, have selected the green corridor for further investigation.
This is the most northerly of the four corridors and would run eastward from the junction of the M1 and M6 motorways to the Kettering area via the southern option at Naseby and the northern option at Broughton. From Kettering the route would follow the general line of the A604 to the Huntingdon/Godmanchester Bypass via the southern option at Catworth. The alignment of the A604 in the area around Thrapston could however give rise to a number of problems and I am keeping open the possibility of investigating the red corridor between Burton Latimer and Catworth.
I have also decided that schemes for bypasses of St. Neots and the A6 towns between Burton Latimer and Rushden should be included in the trunk road preparation pool. Detailed design work 368W on all these schemes will now be undertaken.