Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what major roadworks are in progress on (1) the A12 Trunk Road between the M25 and Ipswich, and (2) the A14 between Cambridge and Ipswich; when each such undertaking is expected to be completed; and what further major roadworks are expected to start within the next 12 months.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The A12 Trunk Road between the M25 and Ipswich
National Highways is currently working through an extensive programme to rebuild concrete roads which have come to the end of their serviceable life, and which require high levels of intervention to maintain them. National Highways will be reconstructing the carriageway and replacing it with a modern asphalt surface. This will improve safety, create smoother quieter journeys and extend the life of the A12 to make it fit for the future. There are two such schemes currently underway on the A12:
A12 Margaretting Bypass (junctions 13 to 15) a £65million concrete road reconstruction scheme – expected completion by summer 2024.
A12 Marks Tey (junction 25) to Stanway (junction 26) a £37milllion concrete road reconstruction scheme – expected completion by summer 2024.
National Highways is also delivering major improvements to increase capacity, reduce congestion and improve safety at M25 junction 28. This circa £160million junctions enhancement scheme is expected to complete by summer 2025.
The A14 between Cambridge and Ipswich
There are ongoing road works on the A14 Haughley (junction 47a) to Tothill (junction 49) as part of a £37 million concrete road reconstruction scheme expected to be completed by summer 2024. National Highways is currently reconstructing the carriageway and replacing it with a modern asphalt surface.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the potential impact of the use of digital evidence in the enforcement around insecure roads of litter laws upon (a) road safety, and (b) the Highways Agency litter performance indicator.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under Section 8 of the Road Traffic Act (1991), a person is guilty of an offence if they use, or permit or cause another person to use, a motor vehicle or trailer on a road when the condition of the motor vehicle or trailer or of its accessories or equipment, or the weight, position or distribution of its load or the manner in which it is secured, is such that the use of the motor vehicle or trailer involves a danger of injury to any person. Enforcement in this area is conducted by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s enforcement officers and the police.
National Highways engages with organisations who have the necessary powers to take enforcement action. Commercial operators and drivers are legally obliged to ensure their loads are effectively secured, and risk finding themselves subject to disciplinary action by the Traffic Commissioner responsible for the issue of heavy goods operator licences, if found to be littering with an unsecure load.
National Highways are currently working with a local authority to trial the use of Artificial Intelligence and camera technology to provide evidence of littering to support local authority enforcement. This trial forms part of National Highways’ approach to reduce littering and litter on the strategic road network, thus increasing performance against its litter performance metric. If the trial is successful, National Highways will consider potential future roll out.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the effectiveness of current litter performance indicators pertaining to value for money and customer satisfaction with highway maintenance; and, if they do not have one, whether they will make one.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the second Road Investment Strategy (2020-25) National Highways were allocated £6.5bn for the operation and maintenance of the Strategic Road Network (SRN). A proportion of this funding will be allocated within National Highways to carry out its litter clearance duties. For 2021/22 National Highways reported that 60.8% of its network was predominately free of litter, refuse or detritus apart from some small items, in line with the Code of practice on litter and refuse published by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This was an improvement from 49.2% reported for 2020/21. The performance for 2022/23 will be published later this summer.
Customer satisfaction of the SRN is provided through the Strategic Road User Survey (SRUS) which is undertaken by Transport Focus, the independent watchdog for transport users. For period April 22 to March 23, 73% of those surveyed were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the overall safety, condition and management of the road network.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enforce legislation pertaining to littering on slip roads off roads managed by National Highways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The responsibility for clearing highway litter and sweeping carriageways is governed by the Environmental Protection Act (1990); Section 89(1) places a duty on National Highways to ensure that the motorways and some trunk roads, so far as is practicable, is kept clear of litter and refuse. The relevant district or Local Authority manages litter collection on the rest of the roads in England.
The Department and the Highways Monitor challenge National Highways on litter performance. National Highways is committed to reporting annually on the percentage of the Strategic Road Network which is predominately free of litter, refuse or detritus apart from some small items, in line with the Code of practice on litter and refuse published by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
National Highways does not have litter enforcement powers on the strategic road network, Local Authorities do have the powers to take forward civil and criminal prosecutions if they have sufficient evidence to do so.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government which sections of the A12 between Ipswich and Lowestoft are single carriageway; and what commitment they have made to finance the upgrading of each such section to dual carriageway.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Most of this stretch of the A12 is single carriageway apart from dual carriageway sections at Wickham Market, Saxmundham, Wangford and Kessingland. The Government is considering an Outline Business Case from Suffolk County Council for a number of improvements to the A12 which includes dualling between the B1438 and the B1079. It would be for the Council to identify any further improvement proposals and to bid for Government funding as and when future funding opportunities arise.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to switch public spending from buses with rubber tyres to lightweight trams in urban areas to reduce the toxic effects from particulates generated by rubber wheels.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has no current plans to reallocate funding for buses to light rail, including tramways. Light rail is largely devolved and it is for local authorities to determine if light rail interventions are appropriate and proportionate, and to identify funding.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether converting bus routes to trams in urban areas with low-cost vehicles fuelled by biomethane has a role in achieving the UK's commitment to the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Mass transit, including light rail and bus rapid transit, is largely devolved in England outside London. It is for local authorities to determine whether mass transit interventions are appropriate and proportionate, including with respect to technology, fuel choice and local decarbonisation ambitions.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many vintage vehicles are currently licenced free of road tax; and what is the cost to the taxpayer of that concession.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are currently 1,102,021 vehicles in the historic vehicle taxation class. Of these 595,823 are currently licensed and attract a nil rate of vehicle excise duty.
His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs publish official statistics on structural tax reliefs ever year. The latest estimate for the historic tax class was published on 12 January is £130m for 2022-23.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many fatal accidents involving cyclists riding after lighting-up time without lights have occurred in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The table below shows the number of fatal road collisions in Great Britain reported by the police using the STATS19 system where a police officer attended the scene and allocated the contributory factor ‘Not displaying lights at night or in poor visibility’ to a pedal cyclist involved in the collision.
Year | Fatal collisions |
2017 | 2 |
2018 | 3 |
2019 | 4 |
2020 | 4 |
2021 | 4 |
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why a 10-mile section of the A12 between Ipswich and Colchester has a 40 mile per hour speed limit; and when this section will return to its previous speed limit.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A temporary 40 mph speed limit is in place on the A12 between Marks Tey and the Four Sisters Interchange as National Highways is currently carrying out a programme of works. These works include resurfacing, barrier replacement, drainage renewal, replacing road studs and road markings and, other safety improvements.
Whilst the works are predominantly carried out during carriageway closures overnight, the 40mph speed limit is currently in place during the day to ensure the safety of road users whilst the works are still incomplete. National Highways anticipates that this temporary speed restriction will be in place until September 2022 when the works are expected to be completed.