§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will consider constructing roads with conduits designed to carry gas mains and electricity cables in order to reduce the need to open trenches when repairs are required.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe Department does provide conduits for public utilities when building new roads where it makes sense to do so. Such conduits are not, however, provided as a matter of course because the public utilities' future requirements are not always known when a road is being designed and it would be wasteful to make provision that might not be required. Moreover, public utilities' 13W apparatus can often be confined to the verge where the need to open trenches is less likely to pose a problem for road users.