§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Minister of Transport what proportion of the total mileage of track is involved annually in British Railways' weedkilling and bank control programme.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe entire track is sprayed annually with weed-killer. In addition, a two-metre strip alongside some 20 per cent. of the track is sprayed annually with scrub-control chemicals, and about 7,000 acres per annum are also sprayed with these chemicals on other parts of the banks. I regret that it is not possible to express this last figure in terms of a proportion of the total mileage of the track.