§ Sir R. Thompsonasked the Ministet of Transport (1) how many branch line closures he has approved in the past two years; and how many of these cases were first considered by the appropriate Transport Users' Consultative Committee;
(2) on how many occasions in the past two years he has withheld his permission to close a branch line as a result of representations made before a Transport Users' Consultative Committee.
55W
§ Mr. MarplesDuring the last two years I have accepted 55 recommendations from the Consultative Committees about proposals for withdrawal of railway services. 50 approved closure as proposed by the railways; a further three approved closure with some modifications, and the other two recommended rejection of the proposals.56W Rejection was also recommended in a further instance, but I did not accept this recommendation. In addition, I have, under Section 56 of the Transport Act, 1962, consented to one closure after receiving a report from the Consultative Committee. In all these cases representations were examined by the appropriate Committee.