§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the factors taken into account when decisions are made regarding the justification for bypasses.
§ Mr. RidleyBefore a scheme is admitted to the national road programme, I must be satisfied that it meets the objectives of the programme which are set out in "National Roads England 1985". Bypasses are then assessed on economic and environmental grounds. The economic factors taken into account are summarised in our two-part booklet "Getting The Best Roads For Our Money". The environmental factors are set out in our "Manual of Environmental Appraisal". Copies of these departmental publications are available in the House of Commons Library.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Transport at what stage of his Department's consideration of the Stoke southern bypass it became unjustified in the opinion of his Department; and for what reasons.
§ Mr. RidleyIt has been apparent for some time that the Stoke southern bypass was becoming increasingly difficult to justify in economic terms. Staffordshire county council's plans to build a Longton-Fenton bypass at about the same time as the southern bypass significantly added the doubt. However, further traffic data were assembled and analysed as agreed at the meeting between my hon. Friend the Minister of State and representatives of the local authorities in July 1984. This led to the decision announced following the further meeting with the local authority representatives on 16 October 1985 that we could not proceed now with a southern bypass of Stoke.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many major bypasses he has approved in the last year; where they are; what was the estimated traffic flow for each by the end of the century measured in terms of vehicles per day and vehicles per hour at peak time; and if he will give similar estimated figures for the Stoke southern bypass.
§ Mr. RidleyI have approved 23 bypasses in the last year. Further details of these are as follows:
670W
Scheme (Location) Traffic Flow vehicles per day Design Year A43 Brackley Bypass (Northamptonshire) 13–22.000 2002 A43 Bulwick Bypass (Northamptonshire) 8–10,000 2001 A43 Towcester Bypass (Northamptonshire) 16–24,000 2002 A47 Billesdon Bypass (Leicestershire) 8–10,000 2001 A52 Bingham Bypass (Nottinghamshire) 10–12,000 2003 A1 Clifton-Stanning Bridge (Northumberland) *21–26,000 2001 A19 Riccall and Barlby Bypass (North Yorkshire) *5–12,000 2002 A616 Stocksbridge—M1 (South Yorkshire) *8–18,000 2002 A65 Settle and Giggleswick Bypsass (North Yorkshire) *4–11,000 2002 A21 Pembury Bypass (North of A264) (Kent) *28–32,000 2000 A21 Pembury Bypass (South of A264) (Kent) *19–23,000 2000 A27 Havant-Chichester Bypass (Hampshire and West Sussex) *23–32,000 2000 A27 Brighton Bypass (East and West Sussex) * 14–50,000 1999 A27 Fontwell Bypass (West Sussex) *20–26,000 2000 A43/A421 Gosford Bypass (Section of Peartree Hill Wendlebury Oxfordshire) *22–30,000 2004 A38 Saltash Bypass (Cornwall) 19–25,000 1998 A36 Warminster Bypass (Wiltshire) 10–20,000 1998 A36 Heytesbury Pypass (Wiltshire) 10–12,000 1998 A303 South Petherton-Broadway (Somerset) 16–26,000 1998 A35 Bridport Bypass (Dorset) *9–12,000 1998 A41 Berkhamsted and King's Langley Bypasses (Hertfordshire) *13–30,000 2001 A10 Buntingford Bypass (Hertfordshire) *7–12,000 2001 A12 Martlesham Bypass (Suffolk) *30–36,000 2003 A435 Eversham Bypass (Hereford and Worcester) 14–18,000 2002 Similar estimated figures for the Stoke southern bypass are below: Stoke Southern Bypass 8,500–11,000 2004 * These figures do not take account of the New National Traffic forecast. I do not have readily available the figures for the individual schemes of vehicles per hour at peak time. As a general guide, however, approximately 10 per cent. of daily traffic flow occurs during peak hours.