To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when he expects to publish the study undertaken by his Department into the total and cumulative environmental impact of the national roads programme. [12267]

Under the previous Administration, my Department commissioned the Transport Research laboratory to carry out a feasibility study into this subject. I have now received the study report, copies of which have been placed in the Library. The report highlights a number of practical difficulties about the way in which the total environmental impact can be defined and measured. As recommended, we are now seeking the views of interested statutory bodies and others. We will consider how best to proceed in light of those consultations, taking account of the strategic roads review which my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport announced on 19 June.