§ 149. Mr. Greyasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation to give high priority to the construction of the Pity Me, Durham by-pass in his future trunk roads programme.
§ Mr. WatkinsonI hope to include the Framwellgate Moor and Pity Me By-pass in the road programme as soon as economic conditions permit, but I cannot yet say when that will be.
§ Mr. Grimondasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation why, in view of the fact that it was officially estimated that 4.;48 miles of new trunk roads would be completed during the financial year 1955–56, only two miles of such roads have been completed during that financial year.
§ Mr. WatkinsonOwing to the inclement weather in the winter of 1955–56 and other unforeseen difficulties, it was only possible to complete finally two schemes, totalling in length 1.07 miles, of the six schemes to which reference was made in the reply given to the hon. Member on 16th November, 1955.
Of the other four schemes referred to in that reply the Llangyfelach By-pass (1–83 miles in length) was opened to traffic before 31st March, 1956, but some work is still being done on the verges, footpaths 191W and fences; the Loughton By-pass (0.63 miles) and Chances Pitch Diversion (0.45 miles) were completed by the beginning of May, 1956; and the Whaddon Diversion (0.5 miles) was held up by difficult soil conditions and difficulties over land acquisition, but is now nearing completion. On the other hand, four other schemes were completed by 31st March, 1956, which were not expected to be finished until later. These four schemes totalled in length 0.91 miles.