§ Mr. IllsleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will make additional funding available to the south Yorkshire local authorities of Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster to enable them to construct the Dearne towns link road.
Mr. BottomleyThe Dearne towns link road is a local road scheme for which Barnsley and Doncaster metropolitan councils are responsible as local highway authorities. Rotherham borough council is not involved. The normal procedure for a local authority to obtain Government grant aid toward such a scheme is through the transport supplementary grant system. Both authorities have indicated their intention to apply for this grant based on a start of construction in the 1990s.
Barnsley borough council has exceptionally applied to the Secretary of State for 100 per cent. grant under section 272 of the Highways Act 1980 in respect of the new road section of the link, that is, between M1 and Darfield. The application is under consideration.