asked the Minister of Transport which of the 84 historic towns will be relieved of through traffic by the early 1980s, as planned in 1971, or have already obtained such benefit from completed bypass routes; which will not; and when they can expect such relief.

The following towns have been at least partially relieved of through trunk traffic by bypasses or major new routes:—

• Abingdon.
• Arundel.
• Bath.
• Belper.
• Bridgwater.
• Bury St. Edmunds.
• Cambridge.
• Carlisle.
• Castle Donington.
• Cheltenham.
• Chester.
• Cirencester.
• Colchester.
• Cockermouth.
• Durham.
• East Dereham.
• Exeter.
• Faversham.
• Gloucester.
• Godmanchester.
• Hexham.
• Huntingdon.
• Kendal.
• King's Lynn.
• Lancaster.
• Launceston.
• Led bury.
• Lewes.
• Lichfield.
• Ludlow.
• Market Harborough.
• Marlborough.
• Morpeth.
• Newark on Trent.
• Newport (Essex).
• Northampton.
• Nottingham.
• Oxford.
• Painswick.
• Penrith.
• Peterborough.
• Rochester.
• St. Albans.
• St. Neots.
• Southampton.
• Stamford.
• Taunton.
• Tewkesbury.
• Thetford.
• Thirsk.
• Ware.
• Winchester.
• Witney.
• Worcester.
• Wymondham.
• York.

Bypasses for five more towns—Appleby, Beverley, Canterbury, Skipton and Swaffham—are under construction; while tenders have been sought for the Wimborne bypass. Some of the towns listed above require additional relief—whether on trunk or local roads—and such a scheme is in progress at Lewes. Details of other schemes likely to start in the next year or two will be set out in the forthcoming roads White Paper.