§ Mr. Forthasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will indicate the Government's general policy on the development of new service areas on motorways and other trunk roads in England.
§ Mr. ChannonOur general policy for motorways is to secure service areas at strategic points roughly 30 miles apart. There are 41 such areas already open in England. A further 19 are planned. The aim is to provide the consumer with an adequate range of choice and good value for money, while upholding the highest standards of road safety and securing a return to the Exchequer. Save in exceptional circumstances, we believe that this is best achieved by promoting full and fair competition between 89W firms providing such services, subject to our having adequate control over the initial development and subsequent use of sites.
Our general policy for trunk roads is to continue to rely on private initiative for the identification, development and management of such sites. It is essential for road safety and traffic reasons to exercise strict control over the new developments which involve formation or an intensified use of accesses to such roads. It is, nevertheless, apparent that there are roads on which there are not at present adequate facilities for motorists. We believe that these needs will best be met in general by a comprehensive provision of services on single sites rather than a spread of individual facilities. It is intended to promote discussions with the local authority associations and the private sector on the identification of such sites and the sort of provision to be made on them.
We believe that these policies represent the most effective way forward to meeting the future needs of motorists on our motorways and trunk roads. I am placing in the library a fuller statement of these policies.