Instant Roads
Page 68
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URGENT appeals for better communications, especially in the areas where unemployment is growing, coupled with the streamlining of the railways that now seems inevitable, give new point to the contention of bodies such as the Railway Conversion League that the first consideration when a stretch of permanent way is declared redundant should be to investigate its possibilities as the route for a road. This procedure cuts out much of the preliminary negotiation and work that are alleged to be one of the reasons for the slow progress of the road programme.
Comments from businessmen who have transferred their premises from south to north io response to appeals by the Government, and in particular from those businessmen who have rejected the appeals, almost invariably put transport high on the list of factors that have influenced their decision. For the most part they have inland transport in mind. It certainly seems the case, for example, that a major reason for the lack of success in luring industry to the new town of Peterlee is the inadequacy of road and rail links.
A. LTHOUGH public awareness is increasing, the importance of he transport factor is still not sufficiently realized. The Scottish Trades Union Congress, in its memorandum to the. Prime Minister on Scotland's economic position, suggests an iinmediate increase in Government expenditure on roads almost at the bottom of a long list of demands. Stress is laid on the need for the diversion of industry to Scotland, apparently without realization that the provision of new roads 'might bring new development automatically, without the need for compulsion or subsidy.
The situation was put clearly by the Paymaster-General, Mr. John Boyd-Carpenter, in opening the debate on public investment in the House of Commons on November 27 last.' " There are all sorts of industries for which good transport is essential," he said, ." and there is no doubt that more industries are attracted.to. the south rather than to the north by good and nearer communications with their potential markets. Therefore, if we can improve road communications in areas that suffer from unemployment, the benefit from that is not so much the employment directly given by the road projects as the much more substantial and permanent benefit to be derived from making the areas more attractive and more likely to attract industrialists to settle permanently there."
It is clear from this that Mr. Boyd-Carpenter was not wasting his time when he was Minister of Transport. His statement firmly rejects any suggestion that road building should be regarded, as it was 30 years ago, primarily as an ingenious means of giving the unemployed something to do.. It is the roads that are needed, and not the work on them, and any suggestions that are made for providing the roads quickly ought to be considered carefully.
The Railway Conversion League is justified, therefore, in expressing some disappointment that some echo of Mr. Boyd-Carpenter's bold words is not to be found in the Transport Act, 1962, Which lays down the principles that. are to guide the nationalized transport undertakings in the future. There is not even a suggestion that abandoned railways ought to be turned into roads where appropriate. British Railways, in the same way as the other boards that are being set up, have power to develop their land in such B38 manner as they may think fit. Or may sell any that is o o surplus to their requirements, r they may develop it first and sell it afterwards. The only control, to be exercised by the Minister of Transport, is to be over expenditure on development for purposes other than those of the railways themselves, and over the acquisition of more territory. Neither restriction seems likely to be onerous.
AT least one attempt was made to write into the Act an obligation to consider the suitability of abandoned lines for road building. At the committee stage in the House of Commons, Mr. E. Popplewell introduced an amendment that would have compelled the railways in appropriate cases to give the. highway authority a six weeks' option on land that it was intended to dispose of.
There was no hope that the Government would accept the amendment. Mr. John Hay, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry, gave some of the reasons in his reply to the discussion. Other local authorities as well as highway authorities might need land that was surplus to the requirements of the railways, and it was not right that preference should be given to one rather than another. The intention of the Government, Mr. Hay continued, was to give the transport boards greater commercial freedom. Their attempt to get the best price for their property would be• frustrated by a forced, sale. In any event, local authorities. including highway authorities, had the opportunity to purchase compulsorily if they so wished.
There is some force in this reasoning. In any event, the Government has placed no obstacle in the way of using railways as roads if the conversion proves desirable. It is understood that the Ministry will at least be watching the situation. Nothing has so far been lost. Instead of safeguards being written into the Act, which would have been preferable, it remains an obligation on interested parties and individuals to follow the progress of railway dismemberment and press for conversion in every appropriate Case.
MUCH of the credit for what has been achieved so far ought to be given to the Railway Conversion League. Its ultimate goal is the complete disappearance of the railways and their replacement by special roads using special vehicles. This has heed variously described as impracticable, misguided and utopian. Even after some years of propaganda, there are probably only a handful of people prepared to go the whole way with the League.
The League's real contribution to the transport problem so far has been to make the. public realize that the railway tracks, or many of them, are valuable transport arteries whatever the type of vehicle using them, and that it is no more sensible to sell them off because the railways cannot make a profit on them than it would be to sell a cycle track because so few cyclists use it. When roads are so badly needed, and the rate of progress is so desperately slow, it is folly not to look carefully at a route made available when another form of transport no longer requires it.
The point may not have occurred only to the League. It has certainly followed it tin the most consistently. It is bad news, therefore, that its membership is declining, to such an extent that it may no longer find it possible to carry on. Operators wishing to know more about the League should write to the Hon. Co-ordinator, Halams Heath, Sham ley Green, Guildford, Surrey.