asked the Minister of Transport whether he is satisfied that designing road schemes so that they cope only with the lowest of the range of design year traffic forecasts, and also, in certain cases, do not comply with the laid down design standards, is sensible, given the results of the recent Transport and Road Research Laboratory report, LR 910, which shows that the damage factor of commercial axles has increased more rapidly in recent years than anticipated, leading to premature failure of the road.

We do not approach the design of schemes in the way implied by my hon. Friend. In accordance with the Leitch committee's recommendation in favour of a flexible approach to design criteria, where different standards would be appropriate depending on which forecast proves right, we assess the risks and costs of being wrong—the wasted cost of a high standard road if traffic is low against the cost of widening or strengthening if traffic is high. The balance of risk may be different for width and pavement strength. In assessing the latter we will take full account of the work reported in LR 910.