THE BURDEN OF THE ROADS.
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The Vast Sum of Over £52,000,000 is Annually Spent on British Roads. The Part Being Played by the Ministry and by Local Authorities. The Question of Coach Traffic on Narrow Roads.
THE DIFFICULTIES . under which local authorities are at pre-sent suffering occupied the :attention of the representativeS of the Rural District Councils of England -and Wales at their annual meeting and conference which was held in London a few days ago.
It will be remembered that the Ministry of Transport prepared a scheme for the classification of roads, the decision being that., in respect of all roads which were included in classes 1 and 2, grants towards maintenance should be made from the funds provided by the taxation of motor vehicles: That this does riot meet with the general approval of county and urban district surveyors was evidenced by a proposal made by the clerk of the Bucklow R.D.C. to the effect that "the method of road classification adopted by the Ministry js grossly unfair and, if persisted in, will result in large annual grants in aid of road construction and maintenance being receivable by . county councils whilst smaller authorities will receive little, if any, assistance." . .
The proposer further went on to say that "in the opinion of the .conference this clagification should be based upon (1) the actual traffic upon the roads ascertainable by census, and (2) their relative importance in relationship to through routes."
Wear and Tear of Narrow Roads.
The proposer and other speakers put forward strong arguments and adduced many pertinent facts • tending to show that districts which are on the verge of large cities with a big population, and which are ' adjacent to towns to and from which proceeds a large amount of vehicular traffic, suffer considerably through road wear. In the country districts, chars-abanes now travel daily in hundreds, over roads which run through picturesque scenery and which, in many cases, do not exceed 10 ft. in width. These 10 ft. roads were never constructed fox the traffic that is using them at the present time, and it is claimed that, at the speed at which the motor coaches travel, they almost lift up the rowel behind: them, resulting in potholes in the roads. Local authorities are asked why they do not tar these roads, but, as an example, it was stated that, whereas four years ago reads in a particular district cost 262 per mile to tar, last year a cost of no less than .2192 per mile was incurred, and towards this there wag hardly any grant whatever.
Arguments were put forward in favour of the allocation of all money from road taxation collected in a district being devoted to the roads of that-district. There were other suggestions for the establishment of local boards which should advice the Ministry of Transport upon the best policy for the use of motor taxation moneys in their districts.
Sir Henry Maybury bore the brunt of the attack on behalf of the Ministry, and showed that, with County Councils in. England and County Road Boards in Scotland, the Ministry is actually maintaining the machinery whereby local advice is at the disposal of the Ministry, and, with regard to the proposal that money raised in a district should be spent in the district, he pointed out that, as a. result of the Finance Act of: last year; something between 28,000;000 and 29,000,000 has been collected in respect of motor taxation and nearly 22,000,000 of this was collected in the Metropolis. He asked whether those present would like to see the 22,000,000 spent in the Metropolis, to which there was a vigorous negative
reply, and he said "of tourse. not. It" woad not be proper that it should."
He Showed the way. in which:money grants from the Ministry are to, be distributed, showing that the small local authorities would eaeh receive their Share, although the money would •be paid through the county councils. -' In the end, the original proposal to which we have referred above was withdrawn, but the recommendations as to the classification being based upon actual traffic and upon the relative trnportance in relationship to through routes was agreed to, Sir Henry Maybury having pointed out that the present scheme of classification was only tentative, and was pushed through as providing the quickest means of enabling the Ministry to make grants in respect of road main tenance.
What Our Roads Are Costing.
The total cost of the roads of the eouatry to-day is something between 252,000,000 and 254,000,000, whereas in 1914 it was only about 218,000,000. From 'Mechanically-propelled traffic the sum received in taxation is between 18,000,000 and 29,000,000, which is only a small sum compared.with the magnitude of the expense which the councils have to undertake and for which they are primarily responsible. Sir Henry Ma.ybury hopes in 1922 to get from 210,000,000 to 212,000,000 from mechanically-propelled traffic, but he pointed out thateside by side with the increased revenue will he increased wear and tear.
With regard to the use of narrow roads, any general attempt to close them to certain classes of traffic would meet with disfavour, and, under the Roads Act of last year, those councils who feel they have a grievance against the use of these roads by heavy traffic can approach the Ministry on the subject, and the procedure that would then follow is quite clearly defined.
Extraordinary Traffic Law Still Holds Good.
With regard to "extraordinary traffic" damage, some local authorities have had agreements with heavy traffic users whereby, instead of being subjected to being shot at. in the Law Courts, they would pay the local authorities so much a ton mile for the heavy traffic. Now, the heavy traffic users say that they are led to believe by the Ministry of Transport that all roads, whether classified or not, should be in such a state as would bear their traffic, and that the Ministry discourage claims for extraordinary traffic. In reply to this, Sir Henry May-bury pointed out that neither the Roads Act nor the Ministry of Transport Act, 1919, repeals or modifies in any way the provision of section 25 of the Act of 18-78, the law relating to "extraordinary traffic " being the same to-day as it was before the .passing of the Roads Act.
Another matter, the subject of a resolution which was ultimately withdrawn, was that the County Councils Association be asked to consider the desirability of county councils making regulations limiting the speed of motor vehicles.passing through villages to 10 m.p.h. The disadvantage of 10-mile speed limits was pointed out, and it was urged that what is really wanted is the strengthening of section 1 of the Motor Car Act, of 1903, which makes it an offence to drive to the public danger.
On the whole, it must be admitted that the discussions -which took place at this conference were of considerable importance in that they materially, cleared the air.