HLG 159/626

Location	National Archives
Title	Final Draft, Transport Chapter 17, The Road System
Date range	1972
Catalogue	See entry

Context

This file contains one item only, and it's exactly what you would expect from the title (which is more unusual than you might reasonably hope). In neatly typeset and bound form, it contains the final recommendations of the GLDP Inquiry that appeared in what would be known as the Layfield Report.

Among other things, it usefully:

• explains the primary/secondary road system in full and justifies the creation of a hierarchy of roads.
• outlines service level proposals – such as minimum traffic speed at peak times, etc.
• notes the main areas of conflict with objectors, in which list it includes the line “Ringway 2 in the South, mainly on environmental grounds, especially from the A2 to Barnes”, by which it means all of it.
• confirms that the GLC hadn't planned many junctions and put vague, oversized symbols on its maps, causing much confusion. Possibly detailed plans do not exist in some areas.
• makes plain the final recommendations – namely, that an Inner London Motorway and an Outer London Orbital be built, but little in between. It rejects the term "Ringway" as inhuman and unhelpful.

People with camera copies

Chris Marshall has a complete copy.