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22 DECEMBER 1981
dis hrough the post by recorded delivery began; what is thustification for the additional expenditure; and what is the cost to the Exchequer thereby incurred.
Mr. Kenneth Clarke: It is not my department's practice to send out vehicle excise licences by recorded delivery. We would do so only in exceptional
circumstances.
M67 (Denton)
Mr. Marks asked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will authorise and make financial provision for the construction of a high safety fence adjacent to the M67 motorway at St. Anne's school, Denton, as part of the necessary accommodation works;
(2) if he is now in a position to pay the agreed compensation arising from the construction of the M67 -Hyde bypass--which opened two years ago, to the St.. Anne's Church, Denton..
hy Denton. 34.
1
Mr. Kenneth Clarke: We have now agreed with the school authorities that we'will provide a safety fence at our expense.
We expect to pay the agreed compensation early in the new year as soon as the legal formalities have been completed.
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Council of Transport Ministers
Mr. Hawkins asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will report the outcome of the meeting of the EEC Council of Transport Ministers which he chaired on 15 December.
Mr. David Howell: On inland transport matters the Council agreed a number of measures including a directive making permanent liberalisation of road feeder journeys for international rail container transport; a directive further relaxing constraints on the international movement of certain minor categories of goods; a decision on the opening of negotiations with Austria on a wide range of transport matters; the Council also adopted resolutions on railways policy; and on future work on transport infrastructure. Agreement in principle was reached on a modest increase in the Community multilateral quota for road haulage, although this still has to be confirmed.
Agreement was not possible, at this Council, on proposals for harmonising technical requirements for inland waterways vessels, or for allowing State aids to certain combined transport facilities.
Archway Road
Mr. Needham asked the Secretary of State for Transport, following the publication of the report of the joint Department of Transport-Greater London Council' working party on Archway, what action he proposes to alleviate the problems of Archway Road.
Mr. David Howell: The unresolved complex problems of the Archway Road have caused years of stress and blight in the area. I have an open mind about the right solution, but believe we must take steps now to clear up this damaging uncertainty once and for all. The Secretary of State for the Environment and I consider that the right way to do this is a completely new inquiry with two sets of orders before it. One set would revoke the previously made orders. The other would put forward a modified
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version of the scheme before the previous inquiries, omitting the circular slip road at Shepherds Hill and reducing the width of the central reservation between the two carriageways. We shall thus be able to consider all the arguments for and against:
(a) revoking the orders made and doing nothing more; (b) revoking the made orders and making new orders for the
modified scheme;
(c) any other course of action that might be put forward by
others at the inquiry.
I have sought the co-operation of the GLC and Haringey borough council in tackling the problems in this way.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Hong Kong (Illegal Immigrants)
55. Sir Anthony Royle asked the Lord Privy Seal how many illegal immigrants from China were arrested in Hong Kong during the first nine months of 1980 and the first nine months of 1981; what is the daily average of arrests in 1981 compared with 1980; and what is his estimate of the number of people added to the population of Hong Kong through illegal immigration from China each year.
Mr. Humphrey Atkins: During the first nine months of 1980, 69,501 illegal immigrants from China were arrested in Hong Kong. The equivalent figure in 1981 was 8,445. The daily average of arrests for the whole of 1980 was 225 and for the first eleven months of 1981, 30. The estimated increase in Hong Kong's population attributable to this immigration is 107,000 in 1979, 64,000 in 1980 and 5,000 in 1981.
El Salvador
Mr. Donald Stewart asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will list the organisations and individuals any official visitor from his Department came into contact with on the most recent visit to El Salvador; and if he will give the dates of that visit.
Mr. Luce: Mr. John Ure, Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, accompanied by a First Secretary from our embassy in San José, visited San Salvador from 17-19 November.
During that visit he had contact with President Napoleon Duarte, Foreign Minister Fidel Chavez Mena, Bishop Rivera y Damas and Monsignor Urioste of the Salvadorean Catholic Church, the Minister of Defence and Public Safety, the acting Secretary of the Electoral Commission, the Papal Nuncio, the Italian and United States ambassadors, and a number of other leading personalities from different political parties. He also visited the British teachers at a school in San Salvador. While it was not possible for Mr. Ure to meet FDR/FMLN representatives in El Salvador he has met the FDR spokesman in London and has had detailed talks with others who have had recent experience of living with the guerilla opposition in El Salvador.
ENVIRONMENT
Greenwich (Rate Support Grant)
Mr. Peter Bottomley asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the rate suport grant to the
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