§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer to the hon Member for Rugby and Kenilworth of 7 March, if he will give details of the litter collection that has so far taken place on motorways and the number of miles of motorway that have been cleared.
§ Mr. ChopeUnder present arrangements, litter is cleared from England's 1,600 miles of motorway at least once per year and more often on stretches which are particularly prone to littering. In difficult and dangerous locations such as the central reservation, litter clearance is carried out in association with other maintenance activities, where possible, in order to minimise traffic disruption and delays.
In 1989–90 the Department of Transport mounted a £1 million campaign to put an extra effort into clearing motoways and trunk roads to complement the work of the Tidy Britain Group. In the current financial year resources for litter clearing on motorways have been doubled to some £3 million.