Road Transport Topics In Parliament
Page 41
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By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
HOME DEFENCE EVACUATION SCHEMES.
N the House of Commons ls-it week 'the Civil Defence Bill was considered in committee and attention given to the clauses dealing with evacuation of the population. The Minister of Health said that people moving under the official scheme would have first call on the road and rail facilities provided.
If unforeseen circumstances arose, the Miaister, under Clause 98 of the Bill, might authorize local authorities to requisition any vehicles, necessary, subject to the consent of the Traffic C om missi on ers
Later on Captain Wallace moved certain amendments to Clause 48. The first provided that the power to take possesi On of premises or vehicles would be confined to " any local authority having any civil defence functions." The others provided that the actual duty imposed on the Traffic. Commissioners, under the Clause, vill rest upon the Chairman of the Traffic Commissioners who is also the licensing authority for goods vehicles and not upon the Traffic Com
missioners as a body..
Another object was to make it clear that the operative condition was not where the vehicle happened to_ be at any particular moment, but where it was actually kept. These amendments were all agreed to.
In further discussion the Lord Privy Seal gave an assurance that the instructions to the Traffic Commissioners would make it quite clear that they were not to requisition vehicles that were nec,essaryl for the purposes of public utility undertakings.
PUBLIC UTILITY UNDERTAKING DEFINED.
TN connection with a further amendlinen), which was rejected, Sir J. Anderson said the term " public utility undertaking " for the purposes of this Bill isits defined to embrace those undertakings which, in the public inteiests, must be placed in a position to carry on their activities in time of war. For that purpose negotiations had been made with undertakings dealing with electricity, water, gas, railways, docks, etc.
No arrangements, he continued, had been made regarding municipal transport, and in many cases it would be in the public interests in time of war that such activities should be decentralized. The municipal transport was on an entirety different footing from, for example, railways. It ran in competition with other forms of transport and could not suitably be made the subject of special arrangements. He added that there would be the strongest objection to any differentiation
between one road transport undertaking and another purely on the ground of ownership.
UNDERGROUND CAR PARKS.
A NEW clause was agreed to relating 1–Vto the powers of local authorities to construct underground car parks suitable for use as air-raid shelters. The clause contains certain provisions for obtaining the approval of the Minister of Health and the Minister of Transport.
ROAD EXPENDITURE EXPLAINED.
DUIZING the recent debate in the t•fousii of Lords on the report of the Select Crauntittee on Road Accidents, Earl Do La Warr, speaking for the Government, stated that £1,000,000,000 had been spent on road improvements during the past 20 years. Lord Waleran asked how the money was spent, and Lord ,Ernehas submitted the following official reply :— Highway expenditure &ring this 20 years to March 31, 1938, amounted to -1,01.i5,(I1j11,1)00, of which 4209,000,000 was found Irom the Road Fund and other Government contributions and the balance from local rates and contributions from frontages and public utilities undertakers. The purposes for which the expenditure was incurred during the past eight years were: (1) Maintenance and , minor improvements, ,£203,000.000; (2) major improvements and new construction,
£113,000,000 ; (3) administrative, cleansing and miscellaneous, .e.94,000,000, •• The espenditure during the 12 years
to 1\lireh, 1030, amounted to ;C•595,000,000, of which approxiMatety Li115,000,1t00 was incurred on works of a capital nature (item 2 above), and the baiancc of £480,000,000 Revenue Account (items 1 and 3 above).
TRUNK ROAD LIGHTING MEASURES. •
R"c-1 RISING the steps being taken-, to eff-tt a suitable system of road lighting throughout the country, Captain Wallace stated that the recommendations of the Departmental Cornmiitee on Street Lighting had been brought to the notice of the principal lighting authorities, and the systems which had recently been installed showed that regard was being had to the Committee's recommendations.
lie had no power over the lighting Of roads, other than trunk roads, where the Minister of Transport could enter into agreements with the responsible authorities, but in all cases where he had made such agreements his Department was careful to satisfy itself as to the adequacy of the proposals,
A SUGGESTED LONDON TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT.
ATTENTION was called by Mr. Coldie to the inconvenience occasioned on the 'Mathes Embankment by the recently installed system of level-crossing gates at the entrance to the Kingsway tunnel and by the gangways adjacent thereto in connection with the demolition of Waterloo Bridge, and suggested the provision of a permanent subway for foot passengers beneath the existing tram tracks. Captain Wallace promised to inquire into the matter.
WESTERN AVENUE HOLD-UP. 'THE Minister informed Sir Perry .I. Harris that the extension of Western Avenue eastwards from Wood Lane to the Harrow Road was part of one of the most important projects recommended by Sir Charles Bressey, He regretted that the negotiations with the London County Council concerning the financial terms on which certain selected schemes, agreed as to priority, should be put in hand, had not yet resulted in agreement being reached.
EAST-WEST ROAD DELAY AT ' LEYTON.
' a question from Mr. Sorensen r
elating to that portion of the EastWest road scheme at Ruckholt Road Bridge, Leyton. Captain Wallace said he was aware that the Highways Committee of-Essex County Council had
. • refused to recommend the Council to make a contribution, as it considered that this part of the East-West connection should be constructed as a trunk road and the whole cost defrayed from the Road Fund. He was not in a position to enteitain this suggestion.
ROAD FATALITIES IN SCOTTISH TOWNS.
HAD the Minister, asked Sir Douglas Thomson, drawn the attention of the Edinburgh authorities to the fact that, according to 1938 returns, one person per 8,608 of the city's population was killed in road accidents in 1938; in Aberdeen, one in 16,725; in Dundee, one in 12,542; and in Glasgow, one in 9,465?
Captain Wallace said he had not considered it necessary formally to draw the attention of Edinburgh Corporation to these accident figures. He was advised that the safety measures now being taken by the corporation should be adequate to deal with the existing traffic conditions.
He recently approved a scheme, which was now being completed, for the provision of a further 41 pedestrian crossings in Edinburgh, and he understood that the corporation were at present considering the provision of additional traffic signals, pedestrian crossings and islands.