Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 27 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 31 January 2006. It was answered by Karen Buck (Labour) on Monday, 6 February 2006 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Quiet Lanes

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the implementation of his policy of quiet lanes in rural areas, with particular reference to local authority areas in the south-east of England.

Answer: Quiet lanes is a Countryside Agency initiative that has the support of the Department for Transport.The Department commissioned research to examine the impact of the two National Demonstration Projects in west Kent and north Norfolk. The findings of this research were published by TRL Limited in 2004 and are summarised the Department for Transport's Traffic Advisory Leaflet 3/04 which was published in June 2004. Copies of this leaflet have been placed in the House Library.The Transport Act 2000 gave local traffic authorities the powers to designate roads for which they are the traffic authority as quiet lanes. There is no requirement in the Act for authorities to provide the Department with details of their quiet lanes schemes.Quiet lanes are identified in LTP guidance and contribute to the measures designed to improve shared priorities and quality of life issues. However, there has, so far, been no specific assessment of the impact they have had.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 47525; 442 c798W;442 c798W
Session: 2005-06
Related items: Deposited Paper DEP 06/341
Monday, 6 February 2006
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects: Local government Policy Noise Roads Rural areas Regulation Road traffic control South East Quiet lanes initiative
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk