asked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list the amount of money allocated to the road building programme and any subsequent reductions made in that sum for each year since 1970;(2) if he will give the annual sums by which disbursements for road building have fallen short of the funds voted by Parliament, for each year since 1970.
The following table indicates sums voted for new construction and land for motorways and trunk roads in England in successive Supply Estimates and Supplementary Estimates, together with the shortfalls in subsequent Appropriation Accounts.
Classification changes during the period mean that figures for preparation and supervision costs are no longer strictly comparable and they have been omitted. Local road building is the responsibility of local highway authorities and is excluded.
£ million
| |||
Year
| Supply Estimates
| Supplementary provision
| Shortfall
|
| 1970–71 | 186·0 | +39·0 | 6·5 |
| 1971–72 | 185·5 | +3·0 | 9·8 |
| 1972–73 | 203·1 | — | 24·5 |
| 1973–74 | 247·0 | — | 17·3 |
| 1974–75 | 236·0 | +30·0 | 6·8 |
| 1975–76 | 281·0 | +68·0 | 2·6 |
| 1976–77 | 325·1 | +8·9 and -2·7 | 2·6 |
| 1977–78 | 250·4 | — | 4·4 |
| 1978–79 | 260·0 | -14·1 | 8·4 |
| 1979–80 | 297·0 | — | 10·6 |
| 1980–81 | 353·7 | -0·2 | 11·4 |
| 1981–82 | 479·5 | — | 73·5 |
The shortfall in 1981–82 was caused by an unprecedented fall in construction prices of 10 per cent. The volume of road construction in 1981–82 was 11 per cent. greater than in 1980–81.