News Release

January 28th 2003

BETTER ROAD LINKS WITH WALES?

In Parliamentary Questions to the Transport Secretary in the Chamber of the House of Commons today (Tuesday 28th January), Michael Fabricant told Roads Minister John Spellar that while the new M6 Toll Motorway (due to open early 2004) would relieve the Birmingham M6 bottleneck and provide improved road connections from the south east of England to the north west, "a few short miles of single-carriage way separates the M6 Toll road from the M54 which offers a road link into mid Wales". The Minister agreed and stated that a review into these links is currently underway and the Government is due to report back sometime in the spring.

Michael Fabricant now says: "It hardly makes sense for an extensive motorway system to be constructed only to find that a few miles of narrow road separates the M6 Toll motorway from the M54. The A460 must be upgraded and the relevant motorway junctions constructed so that vehicles can travel to and from Wales without encountering a bottleneck. The M6 Toll motorway will stimulate industry along its length particularly because it provides excellent links into other parts of England. Improvements to the A460 will provide similar connections to the heartland of Wales".