asked the Secretary of State for the Environment, in view of the inspector's report on the Portswood link road in Southampton, if he will now have urgent talks with Hampshire County Council with a view to removing the blight from those properties still affected by these road proposals.

No. The proposals for the Portswood link road were abandoned. If properties remain blighted it is presumably because of the resolution of the former city council to prepare plans for local road improvements in the Swath-ling and Portswood shopping centres, using as far as possible land previously affected by the Portswood link road proposals. This is a local matter within the responsibility of the county council as highway authority.