Lord Davies of Oldham
Main Page: Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Popat
My Lords, that is exactly what the department is doing. The Government have made £800 million available for local councils to fill potholes and maintain and repair local roads so that we can see the traffic flow and avoid the congestion that we normally see in the mornings.
Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)
My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord in his enhanced responsibility for transport. I hope that he enjoys Question Time as much as his predecessor the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, obviously did. However, perhaps I may emphasise that he has got off to a rather weak start, as the roads programme on which he has commented is slipping drastically. The completion dates of more than half the major schemes that the Government have announced since the general election have slipped by more than a year. Why is the money not being spent, as several noble Lords have already emphasised, on successful maintenance of our existing road network? It is quite clear that the roads are a danger to many users, particularly cyclists, and also to cars when they hit potholes. We need attention and resources given to road maintenance.
Lord Popat
My Lords, the Government are committing to the biggest programme of investment in roads since 1970. We will triple annual investment in major road schemes by 2020. Since coming into office we have completed eight major road schemes, brought forward 26 new major schemes to start during this Parliament and invested £300 million in 123 pinch-point projects on the national network. There is a lot happening and a lot of funding has been made available to make sure that our road infrastructure is well maintained.