§ 30. Mr. Wattsasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) central Government and (b) local authority bypasses are under construction and planned to start in the next two years.
§ Mrs. ChalkerFifteen trunk road bypasses are currently under construction and a further 40 specific bypasses are expected to start in the next two financial years. In addition, many of the other schemes in the trunk road construction programme will relieve communities of through traffic.
In the last threefinancial years 61 local authority bypasses and relief roads have been started and a further 30 are expected to have started in 1983–84. The transport supplementary grant settlement for 1984–85 contains provision for over £640 million of local transport capital projects, and I would expect local authorities to use about £480 million of this for road construction and improvements, including the preparation of schemes to be started in later years. It is for the councils themselves to decide which schemes to start and when.