§ Mr. T. GRIFFITHSasked the Minister of Transport what is the estimated cost of widening the road across Exmoor from Coppleham Cross to Brendon Two Gates; what is the estimated cost of the' projected road to avoid Porlock; what portion of the cost in each case will fall upon the public purse; and on what grounds these intersections of Exmoor, which will completely alter its character, are being undertaken?
§ Colonel ASHLEYThe estimated cost of reconstructing the whole length of the Class II road between Coppleham Cross and Brendon Two Gates is£120,000. Towards the cost of the sections of the scheme which have already been undertaken grants have been made from the Road Fund of the rate of 75 per cent., 1557W which is the usual percentage applicable to schemes under which, as in this case, a classified road is transferred from a rural districts council to a county council, and has to be brought up to "main" road standard before it can be taken over by the county council. The need for the improvement of the road has been urged upon my Department for six years past by the Dulverton Rural District Council and the Somerset County Council, on the ground that the maintenance of the road in its original state was prohibitively expensive under present traffic conditions. I am informed that the Somerset County Council are preparing a scheme for the construction of a new road in substitution of the existing road up Porlock Hill, but particulars have not yet been submitted to my Department.