Manchester Underground Railway Link (Hansard, 20 December 1973)

§ Mr. Marks
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now make a statement on his reconsideration of the SELNEC (Greater Manchester) Passenger Transport proposals.

§ Mr. Fidler
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the Manchester Piccadilly to Victoria underground railway scheme.

§ Mr. Peyton
In October I promised the Greater Manchester Council and the SELNEC Passenger Transport Authority that before the end of the year I would give the Government's decision on the merits of the Piccadilly/Victoria railway project in Manchester. I had previously made it clear that no start would be possible in 1974–5.
The appraisal of the scheme has taken many months. It is costly and the economic rate of return, particularly on the tunnel, is low. By the time a start could be made on such a project, however, the new system of transport grants proposed in the Local Government Bill should have been introduced. It will then be for the Greater Manchester Council to consider what public transport investment should be included in the transport policy and programme which it will have to submit as a basis for grant. It will also be for that council to judge whether such a project appears realistic, in relation to other transport needs such as road building, for the merits of the scheme do not in themselves justify making additional resources available to Manchester.
It seems likely, in view of the massive local support for the scheme, that the metropolitan county will include it in its transport strategy. Its plans should be comprehensive, and include, in particular, proposals for those traffic restraint measures which would increase the benefits from the tunnel. Provided such a total policy could be contained within acceptable estimates the Government would endorse it.
The overriding constraint, however, must continue to be the availability of 404W resources, local and national, for this scale of expenditure.
I told the Chairman of the SELNEC Passenger Transport Authority last August that the project could in no circumstances start before 1975–6. It will now be for the Greater Manchester Council to review further the prospects for starting such a project in the light of my right hon. Friend's statement last Monday on the economic situation.