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A66

Volume 300: debated on Friday 14 November 1997

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the dualling of the A66. [15036]

I have asked Mr. Lawrie Haynes, the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Nutt to Dr. Ashok Kumar, dated 14 November 1997:

As you know the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and Regions has asked Lawrie Haynes, the Chief Executive, to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about dualling of the A66. I am replying in Lawrie Haynes absence from the office.
We are aware of the local pressure for dualling the A66 between Scotch Corner and the M6 at Penrith.
The only A66 dualling scheme in the National Trunk Roads Programme is the £15m Temple Sowerby Bypass and Improvement at Winderwath, west of the Pennines. Work has also started to identify a number of smaller schemes to improve junctions and provide shorter lengths of dualling.
As you may be aware, the Government are undertaking a broad based strategic review of the whole Roads Programme. The objective of the review is to determine the role which roads should play in an integrated transport policy and to establish a forward investment programme for the trunk road network in England. A wide ranging public consultation exercise was launched in July and closes on 14 November. The conclusions of this review will be announced next year.
Ministers will consider the case for any further improvements to the A66 as part of this review, and will take account of local views.