Ben Howlett, the Member of Parliament for Bath, has asked the Prime Minister David Cameron to look into building the much needed link road between the A36 and A46 to the East of Bath.
Speaking in the Chamber, Ben said: “As the Prime Minister will know from getting stuck in traffic on his way into Bath just before the General Election last year, my constituency is plagued by high air pollution and congestion too.
“Given this Government’s commitment to invest billions of pounds in infrastructure, something the previous Labour Government failed to do in 13years, will the Prime Minister look at committing to look at the construction of the long overdue and much need missing A36/46 link road to the east of my constituency?”
The Prime Minister said in response: “I will certainly have a look at what my Honourable Friend said. He makes an important point because some people think that if you care about air quality there is no room for any road building.
“But of course stationary traffic is much more polluting than moving traffic and we have to make sure the arteries that serve all our constituencies are open.
“I will look carefully at what he said but at the same time we should recognise that air quality is improving, nitrogen oxides are down 17% in the last 4 years and we want to do more by introducing the clean air programme.”
Upon leaving the chamber, Ben said: “I am really pleased that the Prime Minister has agreed to look at plans to build the long-awaited A36/46 link road and understands the importance of building this link to reduce both congestion and air pollution in Bath.
“I will be launching a petition to the House of Commons in the coming weeks to show just how much Bath residents want this link road.”
