§ Sir F. NELSONasked the Minister of Transport if he has investigated the congestion of traffic in the Strand district resulting from horse-drawn traffic; and if he will state his reasons for declining to take measures to prohibit horse-drawn vehicles in this and other areas during the rush hours?
§ Mr. HERBERT MORRISONThe congestion of traffic occasioned in the Strand and other congested streets by all classes of vehicles, including horse-drawn vehicles, is continually under review by the London Traffic Advisory Committee. After considering the position in Central London, and having ascertained how this problem is being dealt with in certain Continental cities, the committee recently advised me that it would, in their 57W opinion, be undesirable at the present time to restrict the use of horse-drawn vehicles as distinct from other slow-moving traffic. The committee also expressed the view that further consideration of this problem should be deferred pending the trial of the automatic traffic 58W control light signals, for the installation of which I hope to arrange in Oxford Street in the near future. It is proposed to ascertain from an analysis of traffic to what extent slow-moving vehicles or any class of vehicles interfere with the working of that system.