§ Viscount Lambtonasked the Minister of Transport what proposals have been made to improve the trunk road A1 in Berwick-upon-Tweed; and if she will make a statement on how these proposals will affect the Elizabethan ramparts involved.
§ Mr. SwinglerThe A1 through Berwick-upon-Tweed is heavily overloaded and any improvement to it must take account of the town development and, because of their historic value, the need to preserve the Elizabethan ramparts.
After consultation with my right hon. Friends the Ministers of Public Building and Works and of Housing and Local Government, and with the local authorities, proposals have been prepared which appear to meet these diverse needs in the most satisfactory way. They involve a gyratory system with a road passing through a tunnel beneath the grass bank of the ramparts between Scotsgate and the Cumberland Bastion. These proposals, which have been recommended by the Ancient Monuments Board for England, are designed to improve the view of the ramparts, which would be displayed to their full height. Still further to enhance the display of the monument, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Public Building and Works would also propose, in agreement with the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, to take the opportunity to restore the stretch of ditch between Cumberland and Brass Bastions to its proper levels.
Detailed discussions must proceed before the final scheme can be drawn up. Draft Orders will be published under the provisions of Sections 7 and 9 of the Highways Act, 1959 and will of course be open to objection.