§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the cost per mile of building a motorway.
§ Mr. Graham PageThe construction costs vary widely depending on the nature of the terrain through which the motorway passes and on whether the location is urban or rural. On rural motorway schemes for which contracts were let in 1969 and 1970 costs (at December, 1970, prices) were in the range of £600,000 to £1.600,000 per mile for dual 3-lane motorways. Only two contracts were let for dual 2-lane motorways in this period. Both contained exceptional features. Urban motorway costs are usually considerably higher than rural ones.
§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the amount of compensation per acre paid to farmers whose land is compulsorily acquired for the building of motorways; what attention is paid to the agricultural 146W value of the land; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Graham PageThere is no standard price per acre. The compensation is assessed as laid down in the statutes and is the market value of the land taken with, where appropriate, additional sums for disturbance and for depreciation in value of the remainder of a claimant's farm caused by the severance of the land taken and by the construction and use of the road works carried out on that land.
The assessment of "market value" takes into account all facts which would in practice affect the price that would be paid by bidders in the market if there were no road scheme. Such factors include not only the agricultural value of the land but also any potential value it might possess for any other purpose for which it could be used, e.g. building development, where that is greater.
§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what account is taken of the problems of severance and sterilisation created for farmers when a motorway is built in the vicinity of an existing trunk road.
§ Mr. Graham PageThe effect on agriculture is one of the factors taken into account in evaluating alternative routes for motorways. Once a route is established, severance and sterilisation of land can often be mitigated by an underpass, or bridge, or exchanges of land.
§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what calculations have been made of the cost of permanently removing 225 acres of good farming land.
§ Mr. Michael HeseltineThe cost varies substantially from case to case.
§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of the traffic using that stretch of the A5 between Gailey roundabout and the Shropshire border on an average weekday has Telford as its ultimate destination.
§ Mr. Michael HeseltineOn information available it is not possible to give a more precise figure than that indicated in my hon. Friend's reply of 29th January.—[Vol. 810, c.1214.]
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§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of vehicles using that stretch of the M6 that passes through the Cannock constituency on an average weekday.
§ Mr. Michael HeseltineCounts taken on average weekdays in August and December 1970 indicated 26,000 and 22,000 vehicles respectively.