§ Lord Graham of Edmontonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they have taken following a recommendation of the Verney Report that the Department of the Environment should alter road and bridge specifications to acknowledge that locally available alternative materials, although not nationally recognised, are often suitable for use in road construction; and
What changes in technical specifications have been made by the Department of Transport in introducing new tests and standards for materials used in civil engineering projects, in view of the opinion of the Verney Committee (Aggregates—The Way Ahead) that benefits were to be gained by using fine materials and poor quality aggregates.
The Earl of CaithnessAction has or is being taken as described in the Government's response to the Verney Report (published August 1978, Library HMIS reference 78/212). This indicated that the wide range of materials already permitted in the specification for road and bridgeworks would be extended where this was consistent with achieving satisfactory performance. Further scope and encouragement has been given to the use of locally available materials, particularly by the change to the specification for roads and bridgeworks in 1978 to introduce new materials for road foundations. British Standard 882 was revised in 1983 to include the use of finer aggregates for concrete. That standard is to be adopted in the new edition of the specification for road and bridge works to be published later this year. Generally, the new specification will place more emphasis on the properties of the finished concrete and be less restrictive in specifying the quality and grading of its aggregate constituents.