§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the COBA study into options for a Chideock Bypass. [58223]
§ Ms Glenda Jackson[holding answer 3 November 1998]: No COBA study into options for a Chideock bypass has been carried out. At the 1994 public inquiry into the A35 Chideock/Morcombelake bypass one of the alternatives proposed by objectors was a single carriageway bypass for Chideock alone. The Highways Agency assessed the cost of this scheme as £5.9 million with a COBA net present value of £0.7 million at low traffic growth and £3.7 million at high traffic growth. But this scheme was not considered to represent a viable bypass for the village. An estimate was made by the Highways Agency in 1997 that a single carriageway bypass with climbing lanes for Chideock would cost approximately £12.5 million.