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A417 Traffic Improvement Scheme

The Minister has alluded to the critical point in the debate. The regional priority system will not deliver the road because it is on the edge of three other regions. I have given the figures. It is very close to the edge: some 16 or 8 miles from the three other regions. The problem is that it benefits all four regions, but because of that fact the south-west region will not deliver it as a priority. Unless we get some national input from the Minister, the scheme will never be delivered. It is even more important to deliver it now that the two schemes to which he referred at Blunsdon and Commonhead have been delivered, as the whole road is now a dual carriageway except for the little bit in the middle—the 3.5 miles of single track. That makes it even more dangerous, because motorists get into the frame of mind of driving faster, having been on a dual carriageway section.