HC Deb 19 November 1979 vol 974 c66W
Mr. Alton

asked the Minister of Transport whether the methodology of traffic prediction incorporated in the advisory manual of traffic predictions for rural roads is to be regarded as Government policy.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

Although it was Government policy to adopt the methodology of traffic prediction in the Red Book, this is no longer the case. Current policy is to use the 1978 interim memorandum on traffic forecasting, issued following the report of the Leitch committee, as the basis for planning the development of the trunk road network. The choice at any given time of the basis for planning the national network has to be a matter of Government policy if consistent planning and choice of priorities is to be possible at all.