§ Mr. FlookTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the occasions on which his Department has asked regional assemblies to choose between alternative road schemes, broken down by region; and on what date assembly meetings were held to consider such alternatives. [173483]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe choice between alternative road scheme options is made by Ministers, not regional assemblies. However, through the regional planning process, the programme of multi-modal and road based studies, and the Highways Agency's consultation processes, we have obtained the views of regional assemblies on all trunk road and motorway schemes considered for entry to the Targeted Programme of Improvements, including, where relevant, their views on the choice between alternative scheme options. Given the number of schemes that have been subject to these processes since the establishment of the Targeted Programme of Improvements, it is not practicable to list all of the occasions on which the views of the regional assemblies have been sought or the dates of assembly meetings at which scheme proposals and alternative scheme options have been considered.