§ Sir Barney HayhoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he will take steps to minimise the number of night-time closures made necessary by the maintenance works due to take place from the end of July between junctions 3 and 1 on the M4 motorway.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyYes. We shall try to do all these repairs over one weekend to keep any inconvenience to a minimum. After consultation with the police we have decided to close the London bound (eastbound) carriageway of the M4 between junction 3 at The Parkway and junction 1, east of Chiswick roundabout for a period 517W between 9 pm on Friday 29 July and 6 am on Monday 1 August. This is to facilitate essential carriageway resurfacing work and the replacement of waterproofing on the bridge decks.
If all goes well, we hope to re-open this section of the motorway to traffic by lunchtime on Sunday 31 July.
Wide publicity will be given to the closure. It will be supported by signs to keep motorists fully informed. Delays to traffic are likely to be significant. We are advising motorists to allow plenty of time for their journeys. If the weather seems likely to prevent the work being done, no start would be made and it would then be necessary to transfer the work to a subsequent weekend.