Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government at which stations passengers will be able to board (1) between London and Birmingham, and (2) between Birmingham and Crewe, when HS2 is completed.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Phase One of HS2 will see a new high speed railway line constructed from Birmingham to London which will run on 140 miles of dedicated track. Four new HS2 passenger stations will be included on the route: London Euston, Old Oak Common (West London), Interchange in Solihull and Birmingham Curzon Street.
Phase 2a will provide 36 miles of dedicated track to Crewe. In addition, passengers will be able to board HS2 services at Stafford and Stoke, via the existing West Coast Main Line.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tighten the rules governing importation of trees and shrubs after 31 December.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
From January 2021, trees, shrubs and other plants entering Great Britain from the EU will be subject to third country import requirements. Controls on the highest risk products from the EU will apply immediately following the end of the transition period. This includes requirements to pre-notify, the need for a phytosanitary certificate to accompany regulated consignments and physical inspections on imports once they have arrived in Great Britain. It is already the case that imports of regulated plants and plant products from non-EU countries are subject to import controls.
The UK intends to ensure that its Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regime remains appropriate to address the risks it faces. The UK plant health services already conduct risk-based checks at the border in relation to imports from non-EU countries. The checks undertaken are determined according to an assessment of the risk presented by the import of different plants and goods from different origins. This risk assessment and risk management approach will apply to SPS goods from the EU from 1 January 2021.
For plants (including trees and shrubs) and plant products, a common import regime will ultimately apply to all third countries, so any changes will apply equally to EU and non-EU countries. Notwithstanding the phasing in of controls, any changes to GB's import requirements from the end of the transition period will apply to all third countries (including the EU).
Defra, with the devolved administrations, actively monitors and reviews plant health risks and the government will respond as needed to ensure UK biosecurity continues to be protected.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the incidence of oak processionary moth in the UK in 2020 to date.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission has an annual programme of surveillance in place. This year, the Commission has enhanced its surveillance programme within the UK Protected Zone as a precaution in response to an increased number of intercepts of Oak Processionary Moth in 2019.
Oak Processionary Moth is established in most of Greater London and in some surrounding counties. In June and July 2020, it was found on a very small number of trees at five sites within the Protected Zone, in the English counties of Sussex, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cheshire. Swift action was undertaken to eradicate recent findings, including surveillance, tracing work and the removal of caterpillars and infested trees.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to delay any removal of ancient woodlands until a further assessment has been made of the viability of HS2.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
There are no plans to delay or pause any HS2 works, including woodland removal, provided they can proceed in line with guidance from Public Health England.
The Oakervee Review recently conducted an assessment of the project and concluded that it should continue. At a time when the construction sector faces uncertainty during the coronavirus outbreak, the Government’s subsequent decision to authorise ‘Notice to Proceed’ for Phase One has provided certainty for construction companies, communities along the route, and the wider UK supply chain supporting this transformational project, which is crucial to the Government’s long-term plan to level up the country.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect the UK from the import of (1) oak processionary moth, (2) emerald ash borer, and (3) Xylella fastidiosa.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has established UK Preparedness Boards for both Xylella fastidiosa and the emerald ash borer (EAB), chaired by the Chief Plant Health Officer, to monitor and mitigate risks and to ensure a swift and effective response should either enter the UK.
On 21 April, Defra also introduced new national measures to impose more stringent import requirements to protect the UK from these threats.
For Xylella, the import of Coffea and Polygala myrtifolia species is now prohibited, due to a high disease rate in these species, and stronger import requirements have been introduced for other high-risk hosts including olive, almond, Nerium oleander, lavender and rosemary.
For the EAB, there are stronger controls on countries within 100km of confirmed outbreak areas. This includes the removal of an option in EU legislation to remove the bark and sapwood to a depth of 2.5cm for all countries regulated for EAB.
In relation to oak processionary moth (OPM), restrictions on oak tree imports were tightened in 2019, so that imports of all oaks from outside Europe are prohibited and the import of large oaks (which are susceptible to OPM) from Europe is prohibited, unless they originate in a pest-free area or a country where OPM is not known to occur, or have been grown under physical protection throughout their life.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1571) and prior to their decision to conduct “an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways”, (1) how many miles of smart motorways have been created to date, (2) what has been the total cost of that work, and (3) how many miles of such motorways had been planned.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The SRN has been expanding and evolving since the 1960’s, and in 2018 was 4,513 miles in length. The last 25 years has also seen conversion of parts of the motorway network to become smart motorways:
Controlled Motorway (CM) - in 1995 the first mandatory variable speed limits used on the English motorway network were introduced on the M25 J10-J15. By the end of 2018, controlled motorways covered 137 miles of the network (around 3% of the SRN) and carried 7 billion vehicle miles of traffic (around 8% of total SRN traffic)
Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running (DHS) - in 2006 the first hard shoulder to be opened to traffic was put into operation on the M42 J3a-7. This pilot scheme was originally known as active traffic management. By the end of 2018, Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running motorways covered 66 miles of the network (around 1% of the SRN) and carried 3 billion vehicle miles of traffic (around 3% of total SRN traffic)
All Lane Running (ALR) - in 2014 the first ALR schemes went into operation on the M25 J5-7 and J23-27. By the end of 2018, ALR motorways covered 123 miles of the network (around 3% of the SRN) and carried 5 billion vehicle miles of traffic (around 5% of total SRN traffic).
The smart motorway evidence stocktake report and action plan was published on 12 March 2020 and is available on gov.uk.
I will write to you to answer your questions 2 and 3.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1572) and prior to their decision to conduct “an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways”, what assessment they had made of the safety of smart motorways, or similar schemes, operating in other countries before introducing them in England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Highways Agency looked at experience in the Netherlands before introducing the first smart motorway scheme with hard shoulder running - the M42 ‘Active Traffic Management’ pilot project.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1567), what data they currently hold on the number of people who have been killed on smart motorways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
England’s roads are amongst the safest in the world. Of the 1,522 fatalities on our roads in 2018, 86 were on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) motorway network, of which 19 were on the ‘smart motorway’ sections of the network. Across 2015-2018 there were on average 1,507 fatalities per year. Of these, 87 were on the SRN motorway network including 11 on the 'smart motorway' sections.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1568), why they will not name the minister or official who made the decision to build smart motorways in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The term ‘Smart Motorways’ describes a set of motorway designs, comprising Controlled Motorways, Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running and All Lane Running. Since 1995, these have been progressively introduced to the strategic road network under the tenure of a number of different ministers and officials.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1569) and prior to their decision to conduct “an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways”, what assessment they gave to the reintroduction of hard shoulders on smart motorways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Smart motorways increase capacity by around a third and help tackle congestion on some of our most busy roads. They help people get from A to B as well as keep our freight moving. They enable us to increase capacity while minimising the amount of additional land required. This has environmental benefits and it means that capacity can be added more quickly.
It is worth noting that the hard shoulder on a traditional motorway is not a safe place to stop. One in 12 fatalities on a motorway happens on the hard shoulder.