Discussion on Paper 9

MR GAFFNEY

It may seem paradoxical that at a Conference on 'Motorways in Britain—today and tomorrow' Paper 9 refers essentially to work carried out 'yesterday'. However, 'today' a great deal of work in Yorkshire and Lancashire is still being done on the M62. From the point of view of 'tomorrow', Fig. 1 of the Paper shows that there are two serious gaps in the motorway system in the north of England.

2. One is the missing link to connect the North East to Yorkshire, the South and Lancashire. The second vital omission on the map relates to the fact that over ten million people live in the corridor of the country between Merseyside and Humberside. One motorway, the M62, is insufficient to provide proper communication in the region and the need is for south Mersey to be connected with south Yorkshire and Humberside. This link, serving Sheffield and Manchester, would be another trans-Pennine motorway and I hope that the problems, solutions and lessons outlined in the Paper can form the basis for decisions on a similar project which may have different problems.