Trunk Roads Bill Given Second Reading
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" IT is to the interest of the whole
I. Nation that, without further delay, we should concentrate on providing this country with the best system of roads in the world." Mr. A. J. Barnes, Minister of War Transport, made this declaration when the Trunk Roads Bill came up for its second reading in the House of Commons, last week.
Introducing the Bill, Mr. Barnes said that he proposed to follow the same course as his predecessors with regard to roads scheduled in the Bill, in that general control of trunk roads be in the hands of the Minister, but that day-today work for dealing with them should be done by the local highway authority, a system arranged in 1936, when the Trunk Roads Act became law.
A general survey was carried out in 1936 to determine at what point early improvements were wanted. Up to the outbreak of war, 1,223 major improvements had been authorized, of which 632 had been completed by September, 1939, and a further 160 during the war.
This country's roads have stood up magnificently to the heavy burdens carried by them in the war period, stated the Minister, and what he proposed to do was to add a further 3,685 miles of roads to the national road system; of these 754 miles were in Scotland.
The annual cost of maintenance of the new trunk roads is estimated at £2,500,000. Local authorities will be relieved of responsibility for future improvements of these roads, and this will substantially ease their future burden.
Most members welcomed the Bill, but did not consider that it went far enough. Mr. W. S. Morrison said that there was little that was novel in principle in the Bill, and he did not think the proportion of the 180,000 miles of roads in this country, which were to be made trunk roads, unduly high. Mr. G. R. Strauss, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport, however, reminded the House that the Bill was limited in scope; it was not 'a general highway bill.
On the whole, however, the Bill was well received. It was read a second time and then committed to a Standing Committee.