Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to re-open any of the railway lines closed during the Beeching cuts for either passengers or freight.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Following the Chancellor’s announcement in July 2024, the Restoring Your Railway (RYR) programme is being brought to a close. RYR-originated projects already in delivery will continue to be delivered but projects not yet in delivery are subject to the Department’s capital spending portfolio review. The Transport Secretary announced this review of the previous government's transport plans to ensure that our transport infrastructure portfolio drives economic growth and delivers value for money for taxpayers. Beyond the RYR programme, we believe it is for local transport authorities to consider whether particular transport projects are the best way to meet local needs and, if so, whether they wish to give them high priority from local budgets in the first instance.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 6 December (HL701), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, how much money has been spent to date on the Crewe leg (Phase 2a) of HS2.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
As noted in the Parliamentary Report published in November 2023, to date £1bn (2019 prices) has been spent on the Phase 2a leg of HS2.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 26 October (HL10766), how much money has been spent to date on the Crewe leg (Phase 2a) of HS2.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
This is set out in the latest Parliamentary Report on HS2. The Department will continue to work with HS2 Ltd to bring early / enabling site activities to a safe stop and conclude any land remediation activities for the handing back of sites.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Davies of Gower on 22 November (HL278), whether the Prime Minister's commitment to deliver new rail schemes "far more quickly" than the scrapped Manchester leg of HS2, as set out in their Network North published in October (CP 946), applies to the lines from (1) Burton to Leicester, and (2) Stoke to Leek.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Under the Network North announcement, the Government has committed to delivering both schemes, both of which could be delivered quicker than Phase 2b of HS2 which was due to complete in 2041.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 26 October (HL10766), how much money has been spent to date on the Manchester leg of HS2.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Information related to the spend to date on HS2, including Phase 2b Western Leg, was provided in the most recent Parliamentary Report published in November 2023.
To date, £0.7bn (2019 prices) has been spent on the Phase 2b Western Leg of the HS2 Programme. This funding was used to prepare the Phase 2b Western Leg Bill. Following the Network North announcement, Government is now considering options to repurpose this Bill in order to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail.
The Department for Transport remains committed to providing regular updates to Parliament on the progress of the Programme with a further update expected in Spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to paragraph 63 in the Department of Transport's document Network North published in October (CP 946), what is (1) the estimated cost, and (2) the estimated completion date, for the lines from (a) Burton to Leicester, and (b) Stoke to Leek.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Following the Network North announcement, the Department for Transport is in the early stages of planning next steps, including delivery timelines, for individual schemes and is working closely with Network Rail and other delivery partners to develop and deliver on Government priorities. Further information will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the cancellation of the Manchester leg of HS2, whether they will list the proposed new rail schemes, indicating in each case (1) the estimated cost, and (2) the estimated date of completion.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The full list of rail infrastructure schemes has been published on gov.uk and can be found by searching for the title ‘Network North: transforming British transport’.
Officials are in the early stages of planning, including delivery timelines and estimated costs, for these schemes and are working closely with Network Rail and other partners to develop and deliver these Government priorities.
All schemes will be subject to the development and approval of business cases and will undergo all formal governance, in line with relevant fiscal and legal duties.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money has been spent to date on the Manchester leg of HS2.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Spending up to and including February 2023 was reported in the Department’s last HS2 report to Parliament in June 2023. Updated figures will be provided in the Department’s next six-monthly report on HS2.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - 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 20 December 2021 (HL5014), whether they will now (1) answer the questions put, and (2) publish the level of funding they have provided for cycle lanes to each local authority in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The next Cycling and Walking report to Parliament, due to be published in spring 2022, will contain details of all of the funding that the Government has provided for active travel schemes, including cycle lanes, to each local authority in each year. This is complex as the funding comes from several different funding streams, making a short summary difficult. Some of the information, such as a breakdown of how much capital funding was provided to each local authority for active travel schemes in 2020/21 under the Active Travel Fund, is already available on gov.uk. Copies of the previous report to Parliament and funding breakdowns by local authority covering the years up to 2018/19 are available in the House libraries as well as on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 4 November (HL Deb, col 1340), what funding they have provided for cycle lanes to each local authority in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
On 7 February 2020, the Department published a detailed breakdown of annual investment in cycling and walking from 2016/17 to 2018/19 alongside the first report on progress made towards delivering the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS). This includes information on how much funding each local authority received over that period. Copies of the report and other associated information are available on GOV.UK. An update including a detailed breakdown of annual investment in 2019/20 and 2020/21 will be published in due course. In the meantime, local authority allocations under the Active Travel Fund in 2020/21 are published on the Department for Transport’s website.