Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Transport, in view of the fact that capital authorisations for new road schemes in Great Britain for the four years ending 1961–62 amount to only £280 million according to the Government's announcement in July, 1957, and that, in the light of the latest Civil Estimates, some £250 million of this sum will have been authorised by 1961, leaving only £30 million for the fourth and final year of the present programme, how soon he will be able to make an announcement with regard to the scope of the road construction programme for the next few years.
§ Mr. MarplesThe road programme is determined by the level of actual expenditure approved for each year. Schemes are authorised to meet these levels. The announcement in January, 1959, by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Defence that the road programme would be planned on an annual expenditure of not less than £60 million in 1961 and beyond in effect superseded the earlier announcement about authorisations.