§ 39. Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he is satisfied with the progress of the programme of road bypasses around towns and villages.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyYes. The Government's commitment to removing through traffic from tow ns and villages has resulted in the completion of 6] trunk road bypasses and relief roads since 1979. A further 157 such schemes are in the current programme.
The construction and improvement of local roads is the responsibility of the local highway authorities. The Government's policy is to permit local authorities the maximum freedom in planning their road programmes. Although the Government use transport supplementary grant to encourage local authorities to improve roads that complement the trunk road network, there is no single programme of bypasses on local roads. The information that we have is that local authorities will have completed about 130 bypasses and relief roads in the three years to March 1987, with a further 200 or so under construction or due to start during 1987–88.