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Speech in Grand Committee - Wed 11 Feb 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

"My Lords, size really does matter. Big is not necessarily beautiful. I am a practitioner, as many know, looking up the telescope from place-making projects we are working on across the country, I declare my interest as such. I am a voice, I suppose, from the charitable and voluntary sector …..."
Lord Mawson - View Speech

View all Lord Mawson (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Division Vote (Lords)
10 Feb 2026 - Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Mawson (XB) voted No and in line with the House
One of 24 Crossbench No votes vs 6 Crossbench Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 186 Noes - 251
Division Vote (Lords)
10 Feb 2026 - Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Mawson (XB) voted No and in line with the House
One of 31 Crossbench No votes vs 10 Crossbench Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 188 Noes - 258
Speech in Grand Committee - Wed 04 Feb 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

"My Lords, I support Amendment 133 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Best. I was involved in the London Olympics for 19 years, from day one. Our first meeting was at the Bromley by Bow Centre, with three of us, in 1999. These projects take a long time, …..."
Lord Mawson - View Speech

View all Lord Mawson (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Speech in Grand Committee - Wed 04 Feb 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

"My Lords, I, too, support the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, as well as what the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, has just shared with us.

Earlier, I mentioned “learning by doing” cultures. What do they actually look like? We have been engaging …..."
Lord Mawson - View Speech

View all Lord Mawson (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Speech in Grand Committee - Wed 04 Feb 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

"My Lords, I absolutely feel the pain of the noble Baroness, because we also feel the pain from the other end of the telescope. It is really difficult, and a lot of these systems are profoundly broken. However, this is an opportunity for this Government. The reason why practitioners like …..."
Lord Mawson - View Speech

View all Lord Mawson (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Division Vote (Lords)
4 Feb 2026 - Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025 - View Vote Context
Lord Mawson (XB) voted No and in line with the House
One of 43 Crossbench No votes vs 5 Crossbench Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 62 Noes - 295
Written Question
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Friday 30th January 2026

Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the age distribution of potholes in England; and what tools exist for determining how long specific potholes have been left unrepaired.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.

The Department does not hold data on the time taken by local highway authorities to repair reported potholes, but national guidance recommends that defects and potholes which require urgent attention should be made safe at the time of inspection or as soon as possible.

Local highway authorities have a wide range of tools and methods available to them to survey their networks and to monitor the condition of the roads they maintain over time. The Government does not prescribe which of these must be used to inform their asset management programme.

Speech in Grand Committee - Thu 29 Jan 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

"My Lords, I support this amendment because it opens up some interesting thoughts. Some years ago, I worked in east London on what had been for many years a dysfunctional housing estate in Tower Hamlets. As some noble Lords will know, Tower Hamlets has, over many years, experienced the dysfunction …..."
Lord Mawson - View Speech

View all Lord Mawson (XB - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Written Question
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
Thursday 29th January 2026

Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what penalties exist for local highway authorities which do not spend the portion of funding allocated to them to address potholes on road repairs.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Government recognises that historic underinvestment has meant that authorities have not necessarily had the resources to maintain roads in the way that they would want to. The Government has therefore announced a record £7.3 billion for the next four years. This is building on the c.£1.6 billion in capital funding for local highways maintenance in England for the financial year 2025/26, which includes £500 million of additional funding when compared to funding levels for 2024/25.

In 2025/26, 25% of the additional funding was designated as incentive funding and was contingent upon local highway authorities meeting certain reporting requirements. A portion of the £7.3 billion over the next four years will also be designated as incentive funding and will be subject to local highway authorities demonstrating that they comply with best practice in highways maintenance, for example by spending all the DfT’s capital grant on highways maintenance and adopting more preventative maintenance. Authorities that fail to meet these standards will have this incentive funding withheld.

In addition, on 11 January, DfT published a new traffic light rating system for all local highway authorities in England. Under this system, each authority is rated red, amber or green based on the condition of their roads, how effectively they spend their record Government funding, and whether they do so using best practice. Authorities that state their capital investment to maintain local highways is less than DfT’s capital grant for highways maintenance receive a red spend scorecard under this rating system.