§ 38. Mr. McLoughlinasked the Secretary of State for Transport when he proposes to make a statement about his proposals for the Stoke to Derby road.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyWhat was, in earlier years, referred to as the proposals for a Stoke-Derby link now comprises a series of improvement or bypass schemes within the road programme. Of these, improvement of the 8½ mile length of A50 between the Uttoxeter and Blythe Bridge bypasses was completed in April 1985. On 18 December 1986, I announced a further trunk road scheme to improve the A50/A5007 route between Blythe Bridge and Queensway in Stoke on Trent. Subject to statutory processes, work on that scheme should start in 1990 and take two years to build.
To the east of Uttoxeter a series of bypass schemes are proposed for Doveridge, Hatton-Hilton-Foston, Etwall and Derby Southern bypass. It has been necessary to reappraise the traffic, economic and environmental benefits of these schemes and various alternative routes. For this purpose a new traffic model was developed which was validated last year and for the past few months our consultants have been producing new traffic forecasts and appraising the various options. I hope to be able to make an announcement about the future of these schemes soon.