§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for Transport, further to his reply to the hon. and learned Member for Burton of 17 February, Official Report, c. 145, by what proportion or amount his allocation of accepted capital expenditure in the current year's transport grant settlement for Staffordshire was increased to give a priority to bypasses and relief roads.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeOur whole approach to the distribution of grant between counties involved determination to give high priority to counties which planned to build by-passes and relief roads. This meant that we were56W able to accept capital expenditure on roads such as the Tamworth western loop in Staffordshire. Unfortunately, we were seriously concerned at the size of Staffordshire's bid for revenue support, and the high priority that the council is clearly giving to current expenditure must inevitably be at the expense of capital investment.