Road Investment Strategy

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Monday 1st December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I agree with my hon. Friend entirely. He showed me some of the transport problems in his constituency. He has been a leading advocate of the case for better road infrastructure. I hope that we have gone some way towards showing how that will be achieved.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

Pursuant to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Bosworth (David Tredinnick) and my recent Adjournment debate about the A5 between the M42 and the M69, will my right hon. Friend consider the request for an in-depth feasibility study to search for a long-term solution to what is one of the most congested sections on the strategic road network?

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend raised that issue in an Adjournment debate a few weeks ago. It was framed as a debate about congestion problems in the midlands, but I know that they affect his constituency specifically. He has often made the case for improvements to road infrastructure. I hope that some of the announcements that I have made today will lead to some improvements, but we will no doubt have to go further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Thursday 8th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

Let me deal with whether the academy should be in Coventry in the west midlands. Of course, the west midlands is a very large area. From Coventry to Wolverhampton to Birmingham, all those areas are making bids for the college and I am very pleased about that. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) is saying that Stoke-on-Trent is in the west midlands. It is in the west midlands government area, but I am talking about the old west midlands metropolitan areas, which he may sort of remember.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

The skills academy is vital so that we ensure that HS2 is built by skilled British workers. Notwithstanding the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Karen Lumley) and the hon. Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham), where better to build the skills academy in the geographical heart of the country, at the centre of this project, than in Nuneaton?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I had a very interesting visit with my hon. Friend when I went to Nuneaton station, when he made the case for a number of extra services that he would like to see calling there. I understand his bid for the academy. I am slightly worried as I am not sure what we will talk about on HS2 when we have made a decision on the location of the academy

Flooding: Transport Disruption

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Thursday 13th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

The hon. Lady makes a good point. I have asked the train operating companies to do a lot more on the social media network, which they are doing. One of the frustrating aspects of this situation for people is trying to get information. A lot of people who use the railways do not use social media, and there is a difficulty there, but we are trying to make as much information available as we possibly can.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

These are unprecedented weather conditions, and I commend my right hon. Friend for the work he is doing. I also commend all the people across the country who are working so hard to get our rail and road network open again and back to normal. Many of my constituents depend daily on the west coast main line. What more is the Secretary of State doing to make sure that there is better resilience against this type of weather on that line?

[Mr McLoughlin]

As I said, north of Rugby, a huge amount of money has been invested on the west coast main line. There is still more work to be done; for example, there is more work to be done on signalling, which will be happening this year as far as Watford is concerned. That will have an impact, providing better resilience overall to the services to which my hon. Friend refers. As he rightly says, that line is one of the busiest railway lines anywhere in Europe.

Transport Infrastructure

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Tuesday 17th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend makes yet another representation from the Birmingham grouping—[Interruption.] The Birmingham mafia, as Members say. As he knows, there is nothing to stop Birmingham airport expanding significantly. There is spare capacity there at the moment and it has to attract carriers in to the airport. I am keen to see it do that and for that to become available to the whole of the west midlands.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

The west midlands is one of the only regions to have a positive balance of trade. The Government want to build on that rebalancing by investing in HS2. To properly integrate our transport infrastructure, does my right hon. Friend not agree that the future development of Birmingham international airport should feature far more heavily in the final Davies report than it does in the interim one?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I do not know whether I have been kiboshed as far as Birmingham is concerned, but my hon. Friends on both sides of the House have made clear to me how important they consider the airport to be. There is nothing to stop the expansion of Birmingham airport. It has done a lot to increase capacity and I hope that more services can be attracted to Birmingham.

High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend can rest assured that, for a change, I will not be using this opportunity as a pitch to get more fast services to Nuneaton on the west coast main line. Can he assure me that, despite the investment being made in HS2, investment will still be made to continue to improve the services and capacity on the west coast main line?

[Mr McLoughlin]

Yes, indeed. That is one of the points that will become very apparent with the investment programmes we have over the coming years and that Network Rail will be carrying out. I can assure my hon. Friend that it is not a case of either/or; it is essential to invest in both areas.

Rail Franchising

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. The truth is that we are putting massive further investment into the railways. That has to be paid for by both the fare payer and the taxpayer, but it is right that we try to get that balance right. I am pleased that the Chancellor was able to take the increases down to RPI plus 1%, not only for this year, but for next year.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and his intent to put the interests of passengers at the heart of rail franchising. The best interests of rail passengers in my constituency would be served by the reinstatement of fast off-peak services to Nuneaton, which were taken away by the previous Labour Government in 2008. Will he come to Nuneaton and meet me to discuss this vital issue at greater length?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am certainly more than happy to meet my hon. Friend at Nuneaton station. I believe that a date is going in my diary this afternoon—if it was not already, it will be now.

West Coast Rail Franchise

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am always happy to meet various bodies, and if the hon. Gentleman puts a proposal to me I will certainly consider it.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on using the interim finance to bring forward further service improvements on the west coast main line. He will know that we are meeting next week to discuss some of these issues, but will he take my comments as a bid for the return of some of the Virgin off-peak services that the previous Government took away from Nuneaton in 2008?

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend has just given me a taster of what our meeting next week will be about. I will no doubt have a better explanation for him then. He has been a very strong voice for Nuneaton in trying to get extra facilities for his constituents.

West Coast Main Line

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Marcus Jones

Monday 29th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

Over the past eight years, passenger numbers from Nuneaton station have increased by 77% to just under 1 million. On the basis of that growth and the huge growth in railway usage that we have seen across the country, does my right hon. Friend agree that it would be complete folly at this stage to revert to a nationalised railway, as has been alluded to by some Labour Members over the past week? May I also appeal to him to consider better off-peak fast services to Nuneaton station when he deals with the re-timetabling?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Requests for improved services often come my way whenever I appear at the Dispatch Box. That shows, to a degree, the importance of the rail industry to all our constituents and the demand that exists whereby people will use a service if it is available, so I take his representations very seriously. As for nationalisation, the railways could have been nationalised by the previous Government—they were in power for 13 years—and they decided not to do so, for very good reason.