§ Mr. Rostasked the Minister of Transport when he expects to publish the report from the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment on the framework for appraisal.
§ Mr. FowlerI have today published the first report from the Standing advisory committee on trunk road assessment, the successor to the Leitch committee. The report—"Trunk Road Proposals—A Comprehensive Framework for Appraisal"—develops the Leitch committee's recommendation of a "framework" approach to the appraisal of trunk road schemes. The aim of the framework is to ensure that all the costs and benefits of schemes including those which cannot be measured in money terms, such as environmental effects, are fully taken into account.
I have accepted the main conclusions reached by Sir George Leitch and his committee, and am most grateful to them for their work.
My Department are now making arrangements for the general adoption of the framework approach on the lines of 314W the format recommended in the report for use in taking decisions and in explaining them to the public. As the committee recommended, our aim would be to avoid an over rigid set of guidelines and to ensure that the frameworks used for each scheme suit its size and complexity. Where frameworks are already well developed for individual schemes these will continue to be used.
There are a number of changes in the new framework in comparison with the original version, for example the interests of local residents have been more clearly distinguished from those of people temporarily affected, such as visitors or people shopping at their nearest town.
As the committee says, its report is unlikely to be the last word. We will keep the framework under review and to help us, I am inviting comments from interested bodies on the report and on experience of the framework in use.
I have placed copies of the report in the Library.