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Strategic Routes (South-West)

I shall come on to how the hon. Gentleman’s constituents could address that issue in the near future. We intend to provide almost £865 million over the next 10 years for regionally significant transport schemes in the south-west. I hope that figure might impress the hon. Gentleman’s constituents. However, he and others have suggested that we are not making enough money available in the south-west. That was certainly the suggestion made when prioritisation took place; some people claimed that there was no way to prioritise the Ilchester to Sparkford improvement. As I have told the House on a number of occasions, I hear similar arguments from every region in relation to many other schemes, which makes me think that we have been pretty fair in dividing the pot between regions. It could be argued that the regional pot should be bigger, but then it would have to be made clear where the money would come from—what tax would be raised or what other investment would be cut. We have to be realistic. The Government do not have unlimited funds and sometimes tough choices have to be made. The RFA process helps us to make those choices in the best and most sensible way. Following its advice, the south-west region assigned funding to a total of 31 schemes in the period to 2016. The region advised us that the Ilchester to Sparkford improvement may well prove to be a long-term priority but should not come forward before 2016.