§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information is available to his Department about discrepancies in predicted growth in traffic and assigned loadings discovered in a reappraisal of data by the West Yorkshire County Council, prior to the construction of the Elland Bypass, A629; and if the Fame data or the same method of data preparation is being used in traffic flow surveys on the A646 between Halifax and Todmorden.
§ Mr. MarksThe Department does not have any such information. In any case, the decision to proceed with the Elland Bypass—a principal road scheme—was a matter for the West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, which is the responsible highway authority. So far as the A646 schemes are concerned the Department is using current traffic forecasting procedures which were introduced last year. Predicted traffic flows for Elland Bypass were based on procedures that have been superseded.