§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list(a) the road schemes which are proceeding following the outcome of the national Roads Review and (b) those roads which are to be considered by regional planning conferences which could have an effect on areas of outstanding natural beauty or National Parks, detailing for each the designation affected. [67024]
§ Ms Glenda Jackson[holding answer 26 January 1999]: Environmental concerns were a major consideration of the assessment of schemes during the Roads Review. The Road Programme inherited from the previous Government contained 21 schemes which would affect National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The following lists show the schemes which are to proceed as part of the Targeted Programme of Improvements following the national Roads Review which will impact on specific National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Scheme Name National Park or AONB A34 Chieveley/M4 J13 Improvement North Wessex Downs AONB A41 Aston Clinton Bp Chilterns AONB A2 Bean-Cobham Widening Phase 2 Kent Downs AONB A21 Lamberhurst Bp High Weald AONB The following scheme, which was not sufficiently advanced to be considered for the Targeted Programme of Improvements, will be progressed through its preparatory stages so that if, after full appraisal and statutory procedures, it is eventually endorsed, it can be taken forward without delay.
Scheme Name National Park or AONB A57/A628 Mottram-Tintwhistle Bp Peak District NP In addition, a number of schemes are to considered by Regional Planning Conferences in the context of the programme of wider multi-modal studies announced recently. These studies cover in some cases very wide areas of the country. Solutions to these studies will by no means necessarily be road based and will rarely be solely road schemes. We therefore cannot list AONBs or National Parks within these areas in the same definitive way as for identified road proposals. Environmental impact is an important consideration in our new approach to appraisals and its assessment will be integral to the 2W study process. Any consequences for AONBs and National Parks of solutions coming out of the studies would be explicitly identified at that point.