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neighbour or from the local media. We are not indifferent, and we shall always try to minimise problems and deal with them as sympathetically as possible.

Of course there has been concern about the effect on local housing, especially on properties just outside the proposed line of the relief road. I greatly regret the unavoidable impact. As I have explained, we have set up special arrangements to help those who would lose their homes.

There are worries too, about what we shall do with the properties that we buy under blight. I understand that. I can tell my hon. Friend that we shall appoint experienced agents to manage and let the property on our behalf. We know that it is important to the local community to maintain housing standards. We shall not let our properties decline and decay.

That leaves the question of the perceived effect of new road proposals on the local housing market. We know only too well that a major road proposal can being uncertainty to people living in the immediate area, but there is no evidence that that uncertainty will have a long-term effect on house prices.

The Department's experience all over the country, acquired over many years, has been that, although there may be an immediate effect on the housing market following a road announcement, prices quickly return to normal once the proposed line of the new road and its likely effects become better known, and the degree of uncertainty recedes. We know that house builders quite happily build close to motorway boundaries and have little difficulty in selling those properties--there are examples alongside the M62 in my hon. Friend's constituency.

We shall take full account of the total impact by way of an environmental assessment that will result in a published statement under EC directive 85/337 at the time of line order publication. That will be the appropriate time to publish.

I understand the concerns of my hon. Friend and of the hon. Member for Worsley. I give them my word that I shall continue to listen carefully to their representations. We have a duty to fulfil all the statutory procedures, which we shall carry out scrupulously and fairly, as we decide whether to proceed with the scheme.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at two minutes past Eleven o'clock.

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