§ Sir Geoffrey PattieTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give by category the total number of residential dwellings, commercial premises and other categories of buildings purchased by his Department within the vicinity of the M25 between junctions 12 and 8 over the last five years, together with the itemised costs and the powers by which those purchases were made.
§ Sir Keith SpeedTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the southern section of the M25 from the Dartford crossing to the M4 interchange will be completely free from road works.
§ Mr. Key[holding answer 28 June 1994]: This question relates to operational matters of the Highways Agency. I have asked the chief executive, Mr. Lawrie Haynes, to write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Sir Keith Speed, dated 30 June 1994:
The Minister for Roads and Traffic, Mr. Robert Key, has asked me to write to you in reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking when the southern section of the M25 would be completely free from road works.We have a major rolling programme for widening the M25 between Junctions 3 and 11 on the southern section to dual four lanes without the existing highway boundary. This will take several years to complete. Timing will depend on the availability of funds and the competing demands of other parts of the Road Programme, so I cannot forecast at present exactly when this programme will be finished.We are also considering the provision of capacity beyond dual four lanes for the section of M25 from Junction 10 to the M4 (and beyond). Work on this is dependent on the completion of statutory procedures as well as the availability of funds.In addition, there will be a need for maintenance works but wherever possible these will be incorporated in the widening schemes to minimise disruption to traffic.Bridgeworks are also planned between now and the turn of the century. All bridges are being assessed under the assessment and strengthening programme post-tensioned bridges are also being assessed and inspected under the Special Inspection programme which is being conducted nationwide. It is not therefore possible to say at present what strengthening and/or replacement works will be required for these structures.Every effort is made to keep disruption to a minimum. Experience has shown that limiting the length of individual road works to relatively short sections is less disruptive to traffic than carrying out works over a long distance at one time. This will 164W mean, however, that road works will be taking place on the southern section of the M25 for a longer period than if we had carried out all the works together.