§ Mr. Fallonasked the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has decided the amount and distribution of the transport supplementary grant for 1986–87; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RidleyI have decided to accept for transport supplementary grant a total of £328 million of capital expenditure which local highway authorities estimate they will spend in 1986–87 on roads of more than local importance. A total of £164 million of grant will be paid at a flat rate of 50 per cent. on all accepted expenditure.
In deciding the distribution of the grant among the 108 authorities which will be eligible next year, I have considered carefully the transport policies and programmes submitted in the summer, particularly as they related to roads which carry heavy through traffic. Many of the more important local authority roads, such as those which form part of the primary route network and major urban roads, carry traffic similar in mix and density to that on national roads. I want to encourage local authorities to improve such roads to the standards which people expect of national roads. Improvements to these through routes are a sound investment with benefits to the economy as well as to local people and industry. TSG represents the Government's share in this investment. I have, therefore, looked for road schemes which benefit longer distance traffic, which take heavy lorries away from places where people live and shop, and which provide good value for money. The amount of grant available to each authority depends upon the stage which their road building plans have reached and what can reasonably be achieved in 1986–87.
169WThis settlement supports 310 major road schemes, of which 151 are bypasses on the primary route network. Sixty-three are bypasses and relief roads on other routes—many of these are in urban areas where authorities still face severe traffic problems, and where the costs and difficulties of road building are daunting, but the benefits considerable. The settlement recognises the value of local road investment in our cities as much as between cities. I welcome the determination of the metropolitan district councils to press on with the programmes they will take over next April and the readiness of London boroughs to bring forward schemes which have not flourished under the GLC.
The amount of accepted expenditure and the amount of grant for each council is shown in annex N to the "Rate Support Grant Report (England) 1986–87" made to the House today. Councils are being informed individually today of their own figures.
The amount of expenditure accepted for TSG is not intended to cover the whole of each council's capital highways programme. Within the resources available to them councils should be able to undertake some £200 million of additional works to improve their roads.