Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Thursday Volume 591 22 January 2015 No. 97 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 22 January 2015 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2015 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 345 22 JANUARY 2015 346 fairly. Account is taken of rurality and road usage in the House of Commons various highways authorities when we allocate this money to them. Thursday 22 January 2015 15. [907152] Damian Green (Ashford) (Con): In Kent, The House met at half-past Nine o’clock we are grateful for the £142 million we are receiving from the highways maintenance fund. Will the Secretary of State join me in urging not just the PRAYERS highways authority but Kent county council to pay particular attention to rural roads in Kent? They have [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] suffered terribly in recent winters and are in desperate need of this extra support. Mr McLoughlin: My right hon. Friend rightly points Oral Answers to Questions out the allocation that has been made to Kent. As I said, in this Parliament we have increased by 27% what the previous Government spent on road maintenance, TRANSPORT and in December I announced another funding increase of more than 20%. I hope that we see a fair sharing of it The Secretary of State was asked— across the whole of the community—in both urban and rural areas. Potholes Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD): The extra £86 million allocated to fix and improve Wiltshire’s 1. Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con): What roads over the next six years is very welcome. What financial assistance he is providing to local authorities steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that this to repair potholes. [907133] is indeed additional money spent on our roads and that 8. Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) councils do not use it to top up their reserves, or (Con): What financial assistance he is providing to displace money that otherwise would have been spent local authorities to repair potholes. [907142] on roads to meet other spending pressures? The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick Mr McLoughlin: Overall, local authorities do take McLoughlin): Potholes are a menace to all road users their highway maintenance projects seriously. I point and that is why this Government are taking action. I out to the hon. Gentleman that one cannot argue for announced in December 2014 that we are allocating just localism and then argue all the time for central direction. under £6 billion for councils in England to tackle potholes However, I very much hope that all authorities that have and improve local road conditions over the next six been allocated the money spend it on the roads. Some years. This funding is on top of the £4.7 billion we have other funds are available, and we will judge what local provided since 2010. authorities have done regarding how those funds are distributed. Sir David Amess: Unfortunately, I receive lots of complaints about the state of local roads. I do understand that repairing potholes is very expensive, and I commend A64 (Dualling) last week’s national pothole week. Despite the present strains on the economy, I ask my right hon. Friend that 2. Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con): sufficient funds be made available so that local roads in What plans he has to provide funding for dualling of Southend are kept in good order. the A64. [907134] Mr McLoughlin: I pointed out in my announcement The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport that Southend-on-Sea would get £7.3 million over the (Mr Robert Goodwill): It is no secret that the A64 is also period I have just referred to. Despite the financial important to my constituency of Scarborough and Whitby. situation we found ourselves in when we entered The first major investment for 38 years in the A64 east government, we allocated 27% more for road repairs in of York was announced as part of our road investment this Parliament than the previous Government did in strategy last month. This addressed the notorious Hopgrove the last Parliament. roundabout pinch point. As part of the detailed design Andrew Jones: North Yorkshire has one of the biggest of the scheme, the case for dualling nearby sections of networks of rural roads in the country, and we are very the A64 will be considered. grateful for the extra cash the Government have provided to help. Rural areas often have a large road network, Miss McIntosh: While I am grateful for that answer, supported by the small tax base of the rural population. there are currently huge numbers of casualties and Can the impact of rurality be better reflected in funding fatalities in the villages of Ganton, Rillington and for future repairs to our road network? Heslerton, which have no speed restrictions on the roads and no protections for the very vulnerable crossing Mr McLoughlin: I certainly understand the point my them—children and the elderly. Will my hon. Friend hon. Friend makes—indeed, I have a large rural give priority to that section of the A64, in which I know constituency that has many similar problems. It is up to he too has a personal interest, serving as it does his own the highways authority to look after its entire network constituency? 347 Oral Answers22 JANUARY 2015 Oral Answers 348 Mr Goodwill: When considering investment in our beyond CP5 and into CP6, particularly to enhance roads network, two factors are always borne in mind. capacity and improve journey times for the parts of One is congestion, and in that respect the section between East Anglia and Essex that he represents. Malton and Hopgrove is the busiest and most congested. The other is safety, and that would include the situation Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op): to which my hon. Friend refers. Network Rail is now fully in the public sector. Will this improve public accountability and enable passengers to Railway Improvements travel on safe, newer trains, and trains that are appropriate for the newly electrified lines? 3. Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con): What plans he has to introduce new rolling stock and Claire Perry: The hon. Lady shares with me a firm infrastructure on the railway. [907135] commitment to ensuring that passengers have safe and better journeys. That is the point of this unprecedented The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport level of investment. It is within the grasp of us all to (Claire Perry): Network Rail is delivering an unprecedented hold Network Rail to account. It is an arm’s length £38 billion investment programme for the period from public body, and we have a regulator that regulates its 2014 to 2019, which will transform the infrastructure on investment programme. Network Rail is also accountable the busiest parts of Britain’s rail network. Passengers to Members of Parliament just as it is to members of will also see significant improvements in rolling stock, the public. She will be aware that we are holding a series thanks to the Government’s unprecedented investment of performance summits with the train operating companies and the changes to the franchising programme. This and Network Rail, particularly relating to the routes will allow passengers across the country to benefit from that have shown the worst performance data over the the enhanced investment. past few months. Christopher Pincher: I am grateful for that answer, Sir Alan Haselhurst (Saffron Walden) (Con): Will my but on the question of infrastructure, my constituents hon. Friend tell the House how the feasibility study on in Drayton Bassett are concerned by comments that the West Anglia line, promised by the Minister of State, have been made by the right hon. Member for Birmingham, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Holland Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne) that the HS2 marshalling yard and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), is being progressed? proposed for Washwood Heath might be moved. Will my hon. Friend confirm that the Government believe Claire Perry: I believe that that is part of the whole that Washwood Heath is the right site for such a marshalling aspiration for the Anglian upgrades relating to routes, yard and that they do not propose to move it? investment and capacity, which has been nicely packaged in the “Norwich in 90”proposals. A series of consultations Claire Perry: I can confirm that Washwood Heath is are currently taking place, and I will write to my right absolutely the right location for the rolling stock hon. Friend with specific updates on the point that he maintenance depot. This was confirmed by the High has raised. Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill Select Committee’s announcement in December, and it would Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): When be a brave and foolhardy politician who suggested for it comes to the railways, it is always pie in the sky, or political reasons that anything else might be appropriate. arm’s length, or somebody else’s fault. When is the Minister going to take responsibility for a Government Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op): I met representatives who have done so little to get people in Yorkshire and of East Midlands Trains this week to discuss the the rest of the north of England moving around securely, electrification of the line to Corby. I am concerned that safely and on time? when that happens there might no longer be any services running north from Corby on the Manton line. Will the Claire Perry: I have respect for the hon.