§ Mr. Allen McKayasked the Secretary of State for Transport if, in view of the letter from his Department to Mr. John Hallsworth, reference TPRU 5/2/018, regarding a trans-Pennine motorway, he wishes to add to the reply to the hon. Member for Penistone of 8 November, Official Report, c. 78.
§ Mrs. ChalkerAs I indicated in my reply of 8 November, no studies of a trans-Pennine motorway have been commissioned since 1977. Professor Hall of Reading University and Sir William Halcrow and Partners are undertaking a study of the possible conversion into a road of the Woodhead tunnel, from which rail services have been withdrawn. This is the study about which Mr. Hallsworth wrote to my Department. My right hon. Friend has agreed to provide part of the cost of this study. There could be no question of constructing a road of motorway standards along the former rail route.