Kidderminster, Blakedown, Hagley Bypass (Hansard, 20 June 1994)

§ Mr. Key

The question relates to matters which are the responsibility of the Highways Agency; the chief executive will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Anthony Coombs, dated 16 June 1994: You asked the Secretary of State for Transport about the public costs incurred so far with the Kidderminster, Blakedown and Hagley Bypass and if he would give a breakdown between: (a) design, (b) compulsory purchase and (c) public inquiry. The overall cost so far is about £15–4 million (inclusive of VAT). This does not include in-house staff costs, which are not readily available but are comparatively small. Of this, design costs amount of £1.95 million. This includes the costs of a number of consultants, ground investigation works and an archaeological survey, and of printing and compiling a range of documents. We have not yet reached compulsory purchase stage, but we have acquired property under either statutory or discretionary blight at a cost of £13.26 million. We will however be in a position to sell many of these properties after completion of the scheme and in the meantime many are rented to tenants. The net cost will therefore be lower. The direct cost of the Public Inquiry was about £189,000, not including the costs of our consultants for this purpose, which are included in the figures above.