Draft National Policy Statement for National Networks
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Bradshaw (LD)
My Lords, while we are debating the improvements to the national networks, I first ask whether we are really certain that we are maintaining properly the roads we already have. By maintaining, I mean structural maintenance on the secondary network and something rather better than the routine filing and refilling of potholes, which is now the case. This may appear a trivial problem, but in fact a lot of money is now being spent in this way, and I doubt whether much of it is being used wisely. Will the Minister give us an assurance that this problem is recognised and explain what is being done to stop the decline in the structural condition of our secondary roads and the declining safety standards on other roads because many of these potholes are uncomfortable for car owners but lethal to motorcyclists and cyclists?
The next issue I wish to address is the appraisal methodology for investment in the new and upgraded national networks. I believe that far too much weight is given to small savings of time, which the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, mentioned. Small savings of time are unpredictable. They are therefore of less value and achieve great importance in the appraisals only by adding vast numbers of small savings of time together. You end up with a big number, but it does not mean that the people who are experiencing it are actually benefiting.
The pressing problems which face the country are those posed by climate change, air quality and sustainability. I would like to be assured that these important features are given proper weight because they are serious. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, mentioned air quality in London, but there are a lot more British cities which are suffering from harmful levels of pollution.
The noble Lord, Lord Berkley, has already said that there is considerable doubt about the quality of the Government’s forecasts of road traffic growth. I submit that there should be much more emphasis on the regeneration effects of improving infrastructure, access to jobs, the creation of jobs, access between housing and employment—always considering safety and the environment. We need a more holistic approach to appraisal and the HS2 taskforce and those involved in Crossrail have already drawn the department’s attention to the fact that there are many benefits which are not being captured by the appraisal systems which are currently in force.
A whole industry has developed in applying cost-benefit techniques using these small values of time. These, of course, are underpinned in the Treasury Green Book, and a suite of programmes known collectively as WebTAG by the Department for Transport. Can the Minister tell the House whether the present appraisal methodology is being reviewed? Is this review quite independent of those people intimately involved in the current system? While it is claimed that the present system is “internationally recognised”—whatever that means—there are plenty of examples where strategic national interests seem to be more important in other countries.
The use of stated preference techniques to put a money value on the time savings is, at best, controversial as, of course, no money changes hands. The stated preference techniques derive from employing consultants to go around asking people in the street how they would rate saving two minutes or 30 seconds on their journey. People give actually rather exaggerated answers to these sorts of questions because there is no transition taking place. It is all very well to ask people, “Would you like these goodies?”, but when you come down to hard cash, they might be a little bit more interested.
Speaking as an economist rather than as a politician, there is only one way to evaluate the time savings experienced by actual road users and that is through a system of road pricing. This need not involve added expense for the average road user as the charges could be set on a cost-neutral basis. However, it would be a useful tool for dealing with peak and off-peak travel. It need not affect rural or remote areas, but would almost certainly reduce traffic volumes at very busy times on roads such as the M25. It simply will not do for those who are against road pricing to say that the technology is not available. It is available and it is used in many other countries. I know that such of the industry as is in this country feels that it is being denied the opportunity of demonstrating how effective the system would be.
It also seems odd that variable ticket pricing is used by the railways, buses and airlines, charging different prices so that they spread the load; paragraph 2.32 of the consultation document refers to this. In fact, my secretary upstairs rejoiced yesterday that she had been able to get a Megabus ticket all the way from Hull to London for £1. It is not thanks to Brian Souter’s generosity that she got that ticket, but because in most of the transport industry there is tremendous interest in market pricing. The only honest way to deal with this is to start a system of road pricing here.
There are two ways of dealing with increased traffic volumes. We can either build more infrastructure or use intelligent ways of managing demand. I very much take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley. Very short journeys such as driving the children to school or going to the shops are the ones that cause congestion in cities and towns. If people choose to drive in the peak hour, they should pay more money than people who stagger their journeys. I do not understand the Government’s political cowardice and why this scheme is not put forward.
Nobody can deny that some road schemes urgently require attention. I am not saying that no road scheme can be good; some roads need to be dealt with very urgently. I will give as an example the A1, which runs through Northumberland. That has been the object of constant pressure from my honourable friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed for the whole of his parliamentary career. I checked this morning, and nothing has happened. Sometimes I wonder whether it is because that road is in the north of England and well away from London that it gets no proper consideration. Again, the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, drew attention to the grave dangers of slipping back into the discredited predict-and-provide policies, while nothing is done about managing and spreading demand. The crucial issue of air quality is devalued in this document as it stands, because apparently it fails to be taken into account in the planning application system that is outlined there.
To brush the issue of air quality or any environmental issue aside so that we can get on and build more roads is the negation of proper policy formation. There are also many areas where the air quality is appalling. I will take Bath as an example. The geography of that city is not conducive to having winds blowing around the place. The air quality around Bath does huge damage to people’s health and to the buildings of that world heritage city. Any scheme to improve road circulation by linking up the A46 and the A36 on some sort of eastern bypass for Bath will deliver huge benefits to the people who live in that city as regards congestion and pollution. Those things should be properly taken into account in the way appraisals are done.
Of course, when investment in roads is considered, the various transport alternatives to road-building, such as increased use of trains and buses, should be carefully evaluated. That point is brought out strongly in the 6,000 or so responses that were sent by bodies to the consultation. Can the Minister assure the House that those 6,000 representations will be considered and not brushed away as if they are trivia that can be forgotten?
The east-west links on the railway should be given attention, in such cases as the projection of the Javelin service from Kent past St Pancras to Milton Keynes and beyond; the electrification of the Gospel Oak to Barking railway line; the reinstatement of the railway from Oxford to Bedford and Cambridge; and the completion of the electrified link between Harwich and Felixstowe to the east and west coast main lines. I still hope that the Minister will have something to say fairly soon on the evidence that I have submitted to her on the Lincoln to Nottingham line. Then of course there is the substantial upgrading of the various trans-Pennine links. It is time that we really thought about the fact that not everything goes to London. There are lots of cross-flows, which are not catered for by railways. I pay tribute to some of the things that this Government have done, but there is a lot more to do.
As there is now available a bi-modal diesel and electric heavy freight locomotive, which can work on and off the electrified network, there is an urgent need, first, to do more work on the electrified network and to encourage the rail freight industry to invest in those locomotives very quickly, because they represent an alternative to the very heavy lorries that spill out over the country from our ports. This weekend, on a visit to a local historic site, I was again conscious of a continued noise from the nearby motorway; it did not stop—it just went on, and it was quite loud. While we are very critical of noise from railways and aircraft, in both those modes operators are acutely aware of the need to reduce noise. In fact, I read in the paper this morning that Network Rail is in touch with Japanese consultants to help them reduce noise. Can the Minister tell the House what is currently being done to reduce the noise from road traffic, which affects far more people, and whether road noise is taken into account in any appraisals, which obviously means attention to road surfaces and tyres? In making appraisals, is it made clear that a choice can be made between cheaper road surfaces, such as concrete, and quiet surfaces, such as whisper asphalt? That may seem like a detail, but lots of people live alongside motorways, and this is a constant bone of contention. The difference between concrete and whisper asphalt is enormous, as we found on the A34 when I was in the county council in Oxford.
Has my noble friend also given consideration to the situation whereby the public sector invests in new infrastructure yet the benefits are realised by the private sector in the value of property? How is that sort of economic value taken into consideration in assessing schemes? It is clearly of some economic value to somebody. I am aware of no methods whereby the public sector can get hold of any money unless there is a voluntary contribution or, occasionally, a supplementary rate is levied on the beneficiaries.
In the section about sustainable transport, in paragraphs 3.13 and 3.14, buses are not mentioned but are obviously the major contributor. But the Minister knows full well that there is much disquiet in the bus industry, especially over the level of support given for the reimbursement of concessionary fares. This may upset a lot of people like me, but the bus services that are being withdrawn are used by people to access work and hospitals. These are ordinary people who are prepared to pay their fares, but they are not enough to keep the bus service running. Can the Minister say whether some work is going on somewhere to judge the fairness of this, otherwise I am sure that it will be proceeded against in the courts and will end up in Brussels, unless by then the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, has got his way and we are not affiliated anymore?
The issue of road safety must not be forgotten. Neither should we console ourselves by pointing out that we have a better road safety record than many other countries, as I have often heard. No other transport operator would dare to be as complacent as the road sector given that lots of people are killed and seriously injured each year due to poor road safety. Improving national infrastructure should not depend on whether a number of people derive a small benefit. It should take into account, but not as a sideline, impacts on the environment, public health and the strategic path that this Government are following.
Baroness Kramer
I stand corrected. It was a fair comment, and was certainly mentioned today, so I will just take it up. I apologise for misattributing the statement. I assure the House that it is not the case. Government policy on roads is not that outdated approach of predicting and providing for all future traffic growth, irrespective of cost and environmental and social impacts. It is about sensible and sustainable development where there is a strong justification based on the transport business case. Again, that is not just about numbers; it needs judgment as well.
Development of the strategic road network is primarily about upgrading the existing network. Almost 40% of the investment designated for this Parliament and the next is for maintenance. Over 80% of the schemes in the current programme are smart motorways. I hope that gives some clearer understanding.
It is very clear in the NPS that road improvements must be delivered in an environmentally sensitive way and must look to improve environmental performance wherever possible. Much environmental good can be done as part of an investment programme. I will talk a little more about noise in a moment but it is an opportunity for introducing noise-reducing surfaces and sustainable drainage, for eliminating bottlenecks in the system which push up emissions and for ameliorating the worsening air quality that comes of course with congestion.
At the same time as we are in the process of doing that, the Government are committed to decarbonising our roads. Over the past four years and the coming four years, an investment of £1 billion in ultra low-emission vehicles and new fuel efficiency regulation means that we expect to see greenhouse gas emissions from motoring dropping by about 20% in 2030 from present-day levels.
My noble friend Lord Bradshaw raised the issue of noise, to which I said I would return. The NPS is very clear that, for new schemes, scheme promoters must undertake works to mitigate the impacts, for example through low-noise surfacing, noise barriers and earthworks. Low-noise surfacing is now used as a matter of course in all new schemes. Over the next Parliament, as I said, maintenance of the strategic network will lead to about 80% of the network being resurfaced with low-noise surfacing.
Air quality is another issue that was singled out. It is a problem that we cannot tackle with a single measure—it needs a fairly coherent approach. First, I would say that we have seen very significant improvements in road quality, largely because of cleaner cars and cleaner fuels. That has been important. Reducing congestion is an important way to improve air quality. Everyone in the House will be conscious of the exceptional levels of investment that are now going into the railway network, both to upgrade the existing system and to develop the new spine of a high-speed system. Again, because of modal shift, that is a very important way of tackling the air-quality problem. We are obviously putting in very significant funds: we announced just about a week ago the next £500 million for investments related to ultra low-emission vehicles. We are tackling that across a wide range. It is a very difficult issue to deal with in a national-level statement but your Lordships can see from the work that the Government are doing that we are applying a lot of attention to this and that we take the issue exceedingly seriously.
My noble friend Lord Bradshaw raised the issue of maintenance. I assure the House that we are investing very heavily in maintenance, resilience and pothole repairs, both on the strategic road network and on the local road network. As I said, almost 40% of the investment in our strategic roads in this and the next Parliament is for maintenance. For local roads, we are providing councils in England with more than £3.5 billion between 2011 and 2015 to maintain their roads. We are committed to providing just less than £6 billion between 2015 and 2021. Immediately following the flooding crisis, we released £183 million in funds to local councils to deal with the impact that would have had in terms of local road damage.
In addition, in the March 2014 Budget the Government announced a £200 million pothole fund for the 2014-15 financial year, £168 million of which is being made available for councils in England. I say that because obviously the NPS covers just England. That is enough to fix more than 3 million potholes. We have made it really clear that we do not expect this to be a “patch and mend” approach. We have given a very clear message to local authorities that they should also be undertaking planned preventive maintenance, and that when they repair a pothole they should ensure that it is right first time in order not to have to do a call-back, because that is very far from cost-effective, as well as being highly problematic for motorists.
The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, is concerned that not enough is being done to support modal shift to rail freight. The Government strongly support that modal shift, which is why—in addition to the capacity-enhancement projects that are being supported through the rail investment strategy, which are primarily targeted at improving passenger service but will benefit freight as well—we have also, since 2007, allocated more than £500 million specifically for the development of a strategic rail freight network. The allocation of that money is determined by the rail freight industry so that we can be sure that it is addressing priorities.
Of course, electrification of the network can make a very significant difference. I know to my regret that between 1997 and 2010 we electrified only nine miles of railway. We now have a massive electrification programme under way. That is absolutely crucial but it takes time because we are playing catch-up. I think most of us would say that we wished we were not starting from here.
The incorporation of the SRFIs in this national networks NPS really should strengthen developers’ confidence by confirming parliamentary approval for the policy. I hope that we will see that. However, in relation to modal shift, I must say to the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, that we are not considering road pricing. That is not on the agenda. I am sorry, I meant my noble friend Lord Bradshaw. I am getting names wrong today; that one was completely unintentional. That is not a project that we are looking at. While I am discussing things that we are not looking at, we are not re-looking at concessionary fares. The protection of concessionary fares for older people is in statute and there is no wish whatever to revisit that.
Lord Bradshaw
I was not suggesting that the concessionary fare scheme should be abolished. The important thing is to ensure that the people who provide the bus services are adequately rewarded. There is scope here for considerable investigation; otherwise, this will be fought out in the courts at great expense and great delay.
Baroness Kramer
That probably has scope for a debate on another day, rather than within the context of the NPS. I do not mean to be cruel. I think it is an important issue but not for today. I wanted to leave no doubt that we are not re-examining concessionary fares.
There has been a lot of discussion of an integrated approach, which is very important and an area where we have to improve and build because historically—not just in transport—a lot of what we do has tended to be looked at in silos. There is a big cultural shift taking place. This document is only part of the range of documents that form our thinking around transport. We have strategic economic plans coming in from the LEPs now, as well as rail and road utilisation strategies, which feed in to the rail investment strategy and the forthcoming road investment strategy. Those give us some real opportunities to start looking at integration. I forget which noble Lord talked about HS2 but that is driving a lot of this rethinking, as we recognise that HS2 creates, particularly in the Midlands and in the north, an opportunity to establish connectivity. That needs be thought of alongside HS2 and not as some entirely separate process. In dealing with strategic economic plans, we recognise the link between infrastructure and economic growth. There are real changes going forward there. East-west links are an inherent part of that—that issue was raised by a number of noble Lords—and I consider it to be crucial.
I have only moments left, so let me finish by saying that the department received more than 5,800 responses to its consultation. Around 5,500 of those were responses to campaigns run by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Campaign for Better Transport. I give an assurance that we will look at all the responses, as well as at the feedback that comes from the Transport Select Committee—a crucial document—and from this debate today. We intend to finalise the NPS later this year, in the autumn.
I thank everybody who has participated and ask the House to welcome at least the draft of this document, recognising that there will be a great deal more to add before it becomes final.
Eurotunnel: Structure and Charges
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Kramer
My Lords, the Government are very committed to the single market. We have been strong supporters of the freight corridor strategies that will now extend from the Channel Tunnel through to London, as well as extending the reach across the continent. I take very much to heart the words expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, and I will follow up on his proposal.
Lord Bradshaw (LD)
I am pleased to hear what the noble Lord opposite said about freight charges. Charges for passengers using the Channel Tunnel are so high that I ask my noble friend to consider whether Eurotunnel is abusing its monopoly position so that the market might be open to more providers and better services.
Baroness Kramer
As my noble friend Lord Bradshaw knows, part of the agreement that predated the infraction, which is the subject of this Question, is that the Channel Tunnel Intergovernmental Commission will be replaced by the Office of Rail Regulation for the UK side of the tunnel and by its equivalent, ARAF on the French side. Their powers will be enhanced and they will put in place a charging strategy. My noble friend will be aware, however, that when the tunnel was built, to achieve that financing, certain concessions and rights were given, which obviously predate the relevant European directives. We recognise that we must honour those contractual commitments, although they have changed somewhat over time, as has the EU. I do not want to give too strong a commitment to my noble friend Lord Bradshaw, but I can say that the issues he raises are being looked at seriously.
Airports: Heathrow
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Kramer
My Lords, Heathrow is an incredibly successful airport where many people vie for slots. The commission has been clear that there is no crisis of capacity in the south-east now, although it concluded that we will need one additional runway in the south-east by 2030 and, in all likelihood, a second by 2050. In the mean time, the noble Lord will note that the UK has the third-largest aviation network in the world after the USA and China. London serves 360 destinations, in comparison to Paris at around 300 destinations and Frankfurt at 250.
Lord Bradshaw (LD)
As regards the information that we have had today about climate change, will the Minister update the House on what progress is being made to improve the ground connections, specifically the rail connections, from Heathrow, which matter whether or not we have a third runway there?
Baroness Kramer
My Lords, we expect the commission’s recommendation to be consistent with our plans to cope with climate change, but the noble Lord will of course be aware that the commission, among others, reported into HM Treasury’s national infrastructure plan, which was published on 4 December. That recommended quite a number of enhancements for rail access. As a consequence of that, work will be done to provide rail access at Heathrow from the south. More is being spoken about that today as part of the announcement of how Network Rail will spend £38 billion that has been provided. Indeed, further enhancements to surface access for Gatwick and Stansted are in that national infrastructure plan.
Railways: High Speed 2
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Baroness Kramer
My Lords, the line will be able to take classic-compatibles immediately, which will provide a great deal of the flexibility that is needed. Obviously there is a wide programme of electrification already under way. I can take a look again at the route that he has just suggested and come back to him with comments on it but, essentially, the way in which the line is being designed does not just mean that HS2 trains themselves will be able to run up and down it but ensures that it can be used by classic-compatibles that can go on to a wide range of other destinations.
Lord Bradshaw (LD)
My Lords, I wonder whether I can start with a question: can anything be done to expedite the tortuous Bill procedure in both Houses? This is a matter for the Government and the House authorities, but we really should not wait for years and years while the Bill waits at the convenience of the House—or, rather, the convenience of the nation.
We have already been told that the fares policy will encourage use rather than deter it. I agree that the HS1/HS2 link as tabled is not very satisfactory, but we need a modern transport link between Kings Cross, St Pancras and Euston. I regretted to see in the report the issue of one stop on the Underground. That would mean carting your cases, luggage and everything down to where it is very congested. The time has come to bite the bullet and make a proper link. If these stations were an airport, they would be one terminal; the distance is very short.
I am most interested in what has been said about the north. I think that the north has been done badly to by successive Governments. The most recent bad thing that was done was when the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, cancelled an order for 200 new diesel trains that would have improved the services there. The north must have decent rolling stock, not the cast-offs from other railways and certainly not antiquated stock. Every city in the north needs its local enterprise partnership to get down now to planning how they will link supporting services into the stations that are served.
Lastly, I challenge the Government on the consistent reports I have seen for years that there is no business case for investing in the north. I think that the reason is that, with the present trains and present service, it is difficult to see why people should use the railway. However, we are looking at a new era, and I am sure that there will be a business case for investing properly in the north.
Baroness Kramer
We absolutely agree that we are looking at a new era. It is frankly inspiring to meet the city leaders, businesses and other stakeholders of the great cities of the north and the Midlands, who are coming together to create a sort of common strategy for maximising the benefits of HS2 by building interconnectivity between them. That is absolutely crucial. My noble friend may be hinting at a rolling stock issue in the north. That is an immediate problem that the department has said that it will find a way to resolve no matter what, but it has not yet found an absolute answer.
Parliamentary procedure is a matter for the two Houses. I am sure, though, that with the good will of Members of both Houses, we can encourage the process to move according to the speediest possible timetable. It is important that people who are petitioning are properly heard and listened to; I would not want to cut short the opportunity for that proper interface.
On fares policy, we have said that this will not be a premium service. There will be many ways to link Euston and St Pancras. They have to be looked at. Travelators have been mentioned; there is one stop on the Northern line.
Railways: Line Resilience
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Baroness Kramer
I always hesitate to say anything other than yes to the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley. As he will be well aware, we have a timetable for the long-term resilience project. We have completed the projects that were timetabled for 2013-14, such as the Whiteball tunnel, and others are timetabled for future years. However, the essence of what the noble Lord is talking about in terms of having a programme to make sure that we achieve resilience will be done over the next few months. The study that Network Rail is doing will lead to an interim report being published in July, which will result in a very important discussion in this House.
Lord Bradshaw (LD)
Will my noble friend also take into account in her consideration the fact that, in finding an alternative route, the opportunity probably exists to cut 20 or 25 minutes off the journey time from Cornwall, which would be a massive improvement, akin to that achieved by HS2 between London and Birmingham? Perhaps she would have a look at that.
London Underground: Industrial Action
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Bradshaw (LD)
Will my noble friend take account of the fact that at many London terminus stations connecting with the Underground, there are huge queues of people and a lot of machines that work only slowly? For London Transport to say at this time, “We are going to close all the ticket offices”, sends out the wrong signal. London Transport needs to overhaul what is going on, at which point it will have a much better case to take to the trade unions.
Baroness Kramer
I am afraid that essentially I cannot agree with the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, on this one. Only 3% of journeys actually include going to a ticket office. The number of visits has fallen extremely sharply as people turn to buying online, using machines, taking advantage of systems like the Oyster card and, increasingly, using their bank cards. As he will know, the goal of London Underground is to change the role of those working with these ticketing issues by bringing them out from behind the glass of the ticket office and on to the platforms. They will be given a much wider range of responsibilities to help people, building on the kind of experience we had with the Games makers in the Olympics. They should be able to teach and train people to use the machines and provide support in a much more effective and flexible way. I would think that that has to be the future and a reasonable path to tread.
Aviation: Regulatory Burden
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Bradshaw (LD)
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Rotherwick, for having introduced this subject. I am not involved in general aviation but I welcome the Government’s commitment to the general aviation sector and the positive steps that have been taken, particularly with the help of my old friend and colleague, Andrew Haines, with whom I worked for many years. He was a career railwayman. I do not know whether that has any implications but he certainly seems to have started off very well.
One thing that I should like to take up is whether the panel is proposing to meet with the Home Office, in particular, to discuss the issues that the general aviation sector has experienced with the UK Border Force. I have some experience of dealing with the UK Border Force in international affairs. Quite frankly, it is very, very difficult to deal with. It is very unyielding and very inflexible, and I should be interested to know how any progress is being made. General aviation shares the property of being the route by which undesirable people or undesirable subjects can get into this country. In particular, I should like to hear whether there is any progress at all in that area.
The noble Earl, Lord Liverpool, covered my other question when he mentioned the need for well qualified people to fly planes, and he assured us that he himself is indeed well qualified. I look forward to the recommendations that are likely to be made by the panel. I hope that they will be adopted and will pass whatever legislative rules they have to pass in the not-too-distant future.
High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(11 years ago)
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Lord Bradshaw (LD)
My Lords, I warmly endorse the words of the noble Lord, Lord Adonis. I do so having managed all four lines out of London towards Edinburgh and Birmingham, including via Marylebone. They are now full. When I managed them there was about half the amount of traffic that there is now and very little capacity has been added since then. The noble Lord mentioned the upgrade on the London to Birmingham line but, in fact, it has not produced much in the way of new track; it simply patched up what was there before.
I am quite convinced of the need for a new line north of London. The problem is that, whichever way you go, it is going to upset somebody. There is not a way you can build a line without building it through areas that will be badly affected. It is therefore extremely important that the compensation arrangements, to which my noble friend Lady Kramer referred, are fair and the environmental impact is measured carefully. This is going to be the case because, while I agree that during construction there will be damage to the environment—there is bound to be as there is on any construction site—once the work is done, the countryside can get back almost to where it was. The wildlife and flowers will return—whatever you value will return—as a railway does not interfere with the area around it in the same way that a road does.
As the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, said, there is a strong management team in place, probably the best person possible is now in the lead on this. He will not need any lessons from us on the questions of delivery, keeping costs under control, and generally driving the scheme forward. The idea has been put about by some of the opponents that once you have the high-speed line, other places which formerly had a train service to London will lose theirs, so somehow Coventry and Rugby, to name two places, will suddenly lapse back into having poor quality services. That is most unlikely to be the case, because the case will exist to provide good services on those lines and there is no reason why the providers should not seek to meet that demand, under any structure you might imagine.
People have also said that there will be cuts elsewhere and I have heard some very depressing stories about the draining of so much away from Cambridge and Bristol. That is nothing to do with the argument and there is no reason to suppose that it will draw the lifeblood out of anywhere, but particularly places such as Cambridge, which is one of the strongest economic growth areas in the country.
I do not think any town or city will be worse off. I do not think we are suddenly going to stop spending money on the railway as there are very good plans to do so. I accept that there is objection from people in the Chilterns that deserves mitigating as far as possible. Of course, they will have the opportunity, as the hybrid Bill goes through both Houses, to make their case twice if they want. At the same time, it will be up to us to ensure that the matter is handled as sensitively as it can be handled, through what we all know are very sensitive landscapes. I am pleased to speak in support of the Bill.
Railways: Passenger Demand
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(11 years ago)
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Baroness Kramer
My Lords, I shall reply only briefly, because this wanders away from the topic of the Question. The important issue is that we need significant investment in the east coast main line. The Government and DOR have done an excellent job of stabilising the service; we look to the future and to investment and growth. That is why the Government are making the decision to move ahead with the franchise, to provide a far better and improved service in future.
Lord Bradshaw (LD)
Did the Minister see the report in the Evening Standard yesterday that the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, has spent £24 million in acquiring a property the value of which is expected to rise when Crossrail is opened? The HS2 route will see significant rises in value but these are neither credited to the scheme in the economic assessment nor captured by the public purse. Is any work going on to secure some credit for such effects of these large infrastructure schemes?
Baroness Kramer
My noble friend Lord Bradshaw is right that the economic case is looked at within fairly tightly defined contours. There are many additional benefits. My noble friend Lord Deighton is working on making sure that the growth potential of HS2 is absolutely maximised. My noble friend made the point that there is an uplift in value. My goodness, we have seen that around places like King’s Cross/St Pancras, at the stations on the Jubilee line and in the benefits to Canary Wharf. That economic uplift has not traditionally been captured to help fund infrastructure. We will look closely at ways to do that in future.
High Speed 2
Lord Bradshaw Excerpts(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Lord Bradshaw (LD)
I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, on his firm speech. I am speaking because I was responsible, at some time in my career, for the management of all the four main lines which go out of London to the north. They are now at least 85% full. When a system—a railway, water pipes, gas or anything—is at 85% capacity it is full, because just a small incident can spill over and cause havoc with punctuality or supply of service. So the capacity enhancement is urgently needed, but I am sorry that this thing ever got called High Speed 2 because it is not a high speed railway in international terms: they are not talking about going at about 250 mph.
The upgrading of existing routes is a hopeless proposition. I have just read that next year the west coast main line will be shut for 36 days for urgent engineering work at the London end, running through Watford. That will bring back the horrors but this time it will affect more people because more people are now using the railway. The London end of this project needs rethinking because the way it has been drawn up is wrong. I do not believe there is any need, at least in phase one, to demolish houses in the Camden area. I must cast doubt on the quality of leadership of the project because it has not gone for the most sensible option. We do not need to demolish lots of houses for phase one: we can do that quite easily by other means.
I was also responsible for the first stage of the HS1 extension. At the time people talked—in this House, I am sure, although I was not here—about the rape of the garden of England: it would never be the same again. However, a week or two ago I met a Labour MP from one of the constituencies affected. I asked him if he was getting a lot of trouble from HS1. He said, “No, none at all, but if you ask me about gay marriage I will bring you a few bags of letters”. That is the way in which the ill effects of this project have been grossly exaggerated by various opponents. There will be disruption while it is built but, as someone remarked, the wildlife and the birds come back. The railway does not have lots of service stations, garages and posters. It fits into the countryside and I am sure that noble Lords who travel around by train know many places where the significant Victorian railway buildings are not a blot on the landscape but blend beautifully into it.
The new line will free up a lot of existing capacity and the talk about Coventry, Rugby and Milton Keynes not having as good a service is just not true. This month the Desiro company, which has built many of the excellent suburban trains used between London and Birmingham, has been given permission to increase the line speed of these trains to 115 mph. They are more comfortable and will be nearly as fast as the Pendolinos, and I am sure that customers will like them better. I am certain that all the places affected will have a far better service than they have now.
I have a few requests for the Minister. Will she please facilitate the ongoing discussions about the London end? The Secretary of State knows about them and the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, and I have been to see him. We believe that we can save a lot of money, not the odd million but the odd billion, by these proposals. Look again at the appraisal methodology that these people used. They used the old-fashioned cost-benefit analysis that was invented by the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment in the 1960s and 1970s that compared the value of road schemes to see which was best. The process was never intended to value a project such as this. A recent publication by High Speed 1 has shown that the value of HS1 over 60 years is £17.6 billion. Will the Minister look again at the external benefits? This has been done by HS1, which looked at the effect on the value of property. Recently at Ealing Broadway it found that property prices are increasing sharply in anticipation of Crossrail. None of that value gets into the public purse but there is no doubt that it is of value, and it is time that the department looked at this issue to find a way to ensure that some of that value gets into public hands.
Finally, I ask the Minister to reiterate the commitment to the continuing expenditure on the rest of the network, such as the ongoing improvements at Reading and Birmingham New Street. They are a compliment to what our engineers can do but there is a limit to what can be done within the confines of the existing railway.