National Archives 2012-03-22

Arrived around 1.30 PM, massively late--the District line was not running on the Richmond branch. I walked past the sign explaining the service suspension before I read it, and since it was right at the ticket barrier I could not double back and read it without wasting a fare, but I gathered it had to do with a signal failure. The online service advisory page suggests the District line is back to normal, but I don't altogether trust it, and will try to look for a page refresh date and time stamp. This day will be a mixture of document photography and examining documents.

MT 120/96

This file has Engineering Appreciations for the Trunk Road Master Plan. Photographed one (TR 8) as a sample: this starts as the A4 in London and runs out to the South West. One is also available for TR 12 (London-Carlisle-Glasgow), but I am not photographing this. TR 33 (London-Tilbury) also available; not photographed. A document, "Trunk Road Master Plan: Engineering Appreciation: Instructions for Preparation" is not being photographed because it is believed to have been photographed with MT 120/95; check that this is the case.

MT 39/299

This file deals with the Lloyd George proposals--it is actually several subfiles within one folder cover. I have photographed all except the last, which deals with roads and bridges. I shall finish this file on my next visit to the National Archives.

MT 110/3

This file deals with the "A" Ring, though the early part (in a separate folder) deals with general suggestions for reducing or relieving London congestion, including fairly radical ideas such as house-swapping (proposed by Aneurin Bevan, invariably spelled "swopping") or applying planning control to home-to-work commutes. In the main part of the file, of particular interest is a note describing a meeting (date not given, but probably 20 or 21 April 1950) in which Barnes (Minister of Transport) and Dalton (Minister of Town & Country Planning) agreed to kill the "A" Ring scheme, over the objections of E.B. Hugh-Jones and others. The file as a whole is probably not photographable but still of interest. Another memorandum gives the history of the scheme, and there is a memorandum from Barnes and Dalton asking the Lord President's Committee for a decision on it (it looks like said decision was kicked back to them). Actually, the file as a whole is worth photographing and should not take too long because the majority of it consists of drafts of the joint memorandum (which can be omitted) and also a copy of the "A" Ring technical report, which I already have through the Rees Jeffreys papers.