§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date the public inquiry on the Birmingham northern relief road will commence; how long it is expected to take; if he will set out the terms of reference for the public inquiry with particular reference to whether it is open to the public inquiry to reject the possibility of building the road; and if the terms of reference will be restricted to the line of the road.
§ Mr. KeyThe inquiry will commence on 21 June. It will consider all the draft schemes and orders which have been published. If made, these would establish the route of BNRR, junction and side road arrangements, the compulsory purchase of the land needed for the scheme and ancillary features and the right to levy tolls. The inquiry could last several months.
§ Dr. WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the tolling design of the Birmingham northern relief road is consistent with the recommendations of his Department's Green Paper on motorway charging; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. KeyThe Green Paper, "Paying For Better Motorways" suggested that while conventional tolling, with toll booths and barriers, had several advantages it would be impracticable to toll the entire motorway network by conventional methods. This is because existing motorways were not designed for tolling and land was therefore not set aside for the purpose; and because conventional tolling over the whole network would cause unacceptable traffic delays. These arguments do not apply to individual stretches of road, such as the Birmingham northern relief road, where provision for tolling is part of the design.