Tuesday 12th October 2010

(13 years, 8 months ago)

Petitions
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The Petition of residents of North Kent
Declares that the petitioners believe that the Dartford Crossing should not be sold or privatised.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to ensure that the Dartford Crossing remains in public ownership.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Gareth Johnson, Official Report, 13 September 2010; Vol. 515, c. 711.]
[P000859]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Transport:
The Government have not yet made any decisions regarding the future ownership of the Dartford Crossing.
I understand that several key factors need to be considered in the decision-making process including whether a new concession structure would provide better value for the taxpayer, the flexibility needed to provide possible additional crossing capacity in the future, and how user charging policies would be affected.
The Budget statement (22 June), confirmed that decisions will be made on the possibility of providing future additional crossing capacity and the possibilities for letting out a concession at the conclusion of the spending review.