Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 26th June 2025 Public Bill Committees

[Simon Lightwood]

I will start with amendment 57, tabled by the hon. Members for Wimbledon and for North Norfolk, which would require the Secretary of State to assess the adequacy of central Government funding to support the provision of bus services under franchised schemes. Under the Transport Act 2000, franchising authorities are already required to undertake a rigorous assessment to determine whether bus franchising is feasible, affordable, and deliverable in their area. The franchising assessment and the independent assurance report must then be published alongside the franchising consultation, ensuring transparency regarding the local transport authority’s decision. That comprehensive planning and assurance process significantly reduces the likelihood of needing central Government oversight and intervention, making the amendment unnecessary.

The hon. Member for Wimbledon asked for an update on my Department’s engagement with relevant stakeholders to identify approved persons. Bodies in the accountancy sector could include the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. To identify who else may qualify as an approved person, the Department intends to hold discussions with other stakeholders, including the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and industry bodies such as the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

My Department will also look at whether those with senior and extensive experience in either the bus sector or local government could provide assurance. Guidance will be provided to franchising authorities, setting out considerations to be taken into account when selecting an independent approved person. The reason why the clause is subject to future regulations is that qualifications will change over time, so it is right to have the flexibility to respond to those changes.

The core principle underpinning the Bill is that decisions should be made at the most appropriate level, specifically by devolving to local transport authorities the power to manage bus services within their area. The amendment would undermine the intention of the Bill. For those reasons, I hope that the hon. Member for Wimbledon will withdraw it.

Amendment 59, also tabled by the hon. Members for Wimbledon and for North Norfolk, is a probing amendment on whether the Secretary of State intends to issue the criteria for the approved person role within three months of Royal Assent. The Department intends to introduce secondary legislation defining “approved person” alongside updated bus franchising guidance to facilitate implementation of the new measures. That work cannot be completed within three months of Royal Assent, as it requires thorough engagement with the sector and the progression of a statutory instrument. The existing legislation will remain in force until secondary legislation is delivered; I hope that gives some reassurance. The Bill gives franchising authorities significant flexibility to specify services in ways that are tuned to the needs of local bus users. More detail on how franchising authorities can use that flexibility will be set out in guidance.

The purpose of clause 10 is to broaden the pool of persons able to conduct assurance reports of proposed franchising schemes. Under current legislation, authorities that have developed an assessment of a proposed franchising scheme must obtain an independent assurance report that looks at whether the assessment has been developed with robust financial and economic information and whether the analysis is sufficient. However, the requirement that the report be conducted by an “auditor” has meant that very few people are willing and able to carry out that assurance.

The clause seeks to remove the bottleneck and make the franchising process quicker and less costly and, by enabling expertise to be brought in from the wider industry, increase the quality of the independent review. It will also give a franchising authority more flexibility to decide when to appoint an independent assessor, allowing the assessor to provide informal feedback to the authority much earlier in the assessment process, potentially saving both time and money. The Department intends to set out further qualifications and experience in secondary legislation, which will enable a greater number of professionals to undertake assurance and remove the bottleneck that currently exists.

Clause 11 requires franchising authorities to consult disabled bus users, prospective users or representative organisations before making a franchising scheme.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I am really heartened by clause 11 and I welcome it. I am sure the Minister agrees that consulting people who live with disabilities is vital for any future public transport service. Even with the best of intent, one cannot plan accessible services without understanding the lived experience of disabled users and the associated infrastructure.

[Simon Lightwood]

I completely agree.

The clause is intended to ensure that local transport authorities understand the perspective of disabled people and make franchising schemes that are better informed by the priorities of disabled passengers and take account of their needs more effectively. The clause sits alongside the schedule, which will introduce similar consultation requirements when authorities vary existing franchising schemes.

Government new clause 4 first corrects an issue in the Transport Act 2000. The Act currently states that when preparing a franchising assessment, authorities must consider the local transport plans of any neighbouring Scottish councils, which is unnecessary because Scottish councils do not have local transport plans. The new clause addresses the matter, while maintaining a requirement for franchising authorities to consider bus-related policies adopted by councils in Scotland. It will also require franchising authorities to consider whether a proposed franchising scheme would support the implementation of bus-related policies adopted by neighbouring Scottish transport partnerships, and require franchising authorities to consult Welsh Ministers and Scottish transport partnerships, where appropriate, as part of a consultation on establishing a franchising scheme. Finally, the new clause makes a technical change to define the term “council in Scotland” for the purposes of part 2 of the Transport Act 2000.

Road Maintenance

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for introducing this important debate. Improving our roads and highways is a critical mission for this Labour Government and will help to deliver real economic growth for my constituency.

In Stoke-on-Trent South, our roads experienced years of decay under the previous Government and are riddled with potholes. With crater-like potholes damaging cars and congestion delaying commutes to work, that costs my constituents. But this debate is about more than just bumps and burst tyres, as important as they are; improving our local road network will greatly boost investment in our city, rural areas and neighbouring regions. That is why I warmly welcome the uplift in highways funding, of which more than £9 million has been allocated to Stoke-on-Trent and £19 million to Staffordshire to fix our potholes.

Labour-run Stoke-on-Trent city council has done excellent work on this issue already, working with midlands manufacturer, JCB, to develop and use the Pothole Pro—a cutting-edge solution to fixing potholes, which can complete 18 years of traditional work in just over two years. Using the Pothole Pro, the highways direct services team in the city council has delivered real improvements to the city’s roads. In the last few years, it has repaired 16,255 potholes, which is a 772% improvement. The city council has also been using AI to map out the condition of the entire highway network—potholes, cracks and depressions—with a complete inventory of the street signs. The council hopes to deploy the technology further on to our bin wagons, which of course go everywhere, which highlights the innovative work being done locally to improve our road network.

Our road network is strategically critical to the city’s—and north Staffordshire’s—prosperity and economic development. The A50 and A500 roads are a key connector between Crewe, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent, Uttoxeter and Derby. Along this corridor are advanced manufacturing companies like JCB, Michelin, Toyota and Bentley, and of course within Stoke-on-Trent we have excellent ceramics companies like Duchess China and Wedgwood. Stoke-on-Trent is also a specialist in advanced ceramics—precisely the kinds of businesses that are looking for investment from this Labour Government and precisely the kind of advanced manufacturing companies that can offer real wages and skilled employment to workers in our city and north Staffordshire, and that need good road transport.

Unfortunately, my constituents and companies face significant challenges in getting to their workplaces and for freight transport, particularly on the A50, where pinch-point roundabouts are causing huge delays. A report by Midlands Connect found that commuters are delayed by 37 minutes per day on average due to delays at those roundabouts. In August, I had a crash on one of them, and it hurt. These delays really reduce the distance that my constituents can travel for work. Midlands Connect has estimated that improving these roads, along with building more houses and investing in our advanced manufacturing corridor, will generate over £12 billion in gross value added.

Our roads are really important, but as passionate as I am about road improvements, I am even more passionate about road safety. Improvements go beyond economic growth and filling potholes; they make a real difference to road safety for pedestrians in communities across Stoke-on-Trent South, particularly within the rural areas of my constituency, which are under the purview of Conservative-run Staffordshire county council.

Our communities deserve roads where people feel safe, not roads dominated by speeding traffic. High-speed roads cut straight through villages like Tittensor and Draycott in the Moors, making it incredibly unsafe for children and elderly residents to cross the road to catch buses, walk to school or go to doctors’ surgeries. Implementing traffic-calming measures and pedestrian crossings and introducing lower speed limits are essential steps in making these villages safer and accessible for everyone. I thank Josie Windsor, who has organised a petition in Tittensor to get a pedestrian crossing across the A34, to ensure that the elderly, children and working people can access shops and public transport. I particularly thank Bassetts for its recent letter of support.

I also thank residents of Draycott in the Moors—another village cut in two, this time by the Uttoxeter Road, which is often used as a rat run when the A50 is congested. There are no pedestrian crossings along the road. As in Tittensor, that means that people risk their lives crossing the road to reach the other side of the village. It is hugely worrying. There are even proposals for a huge housing development, which will add to the problem. Residents desperately want a roundabout and pedestrian crossings to ease congestion and improve safety, but their pleas are falling on deaf ears at the county council.

There have been successes. In Weston Coyney, my constituent Craig Royce has campaigned successfully to get a pedestrian crossing—a huge win for the local community in Stoke-on-Trent—after his friend tragically lost his life due to a dangerous driver and the lack of a crossing. I am delighted to have helped Craig in his campaign by helping him to liaise with relevant professionals at the city council. On Hilderstone level, along the B5066, I thank Penny Meakin for leading the Hilderstone Road speed campaign for speed controls on Hilderstone Road, and I thank campaigners in Beech, who also want slower traffic.

These communities in my constituency are being failed by our current road maintenance system, which has low consideration for road safety, moves too slowly and does not value the impact on communities, whether in local villages or wider regions, who know their areas better than we do in Westminster and, indeed, better than Staffordshire county council. My right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister has said:

“There’s no monopoly on good ideas”,

so let us work with our communities and our fantastic parish councils to deliver the changes that our roads desperately need, and build connected and safe communities.

Crewe Railway Station

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Connor Naismith]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He is absolutely right to point out some of the negative impacts of the HS2 project on his constituents and, indeed, some of my constituents. It is right that the Government have taken the necessary steps to get the mismanagement of the project under control. It is right that they continue to do that and fully engage with those negatively impacted so far.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

As my hon. Friend knows, Stoke-on-Trent sits on an offshoot of the west coast main line and provides a vital east-west link between Crewe and Derby, which also requires electrification. Does he agree that previous HS2 plans severely reduced services through Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, and that any future developments must not negatively impact this vital region for growth?

[Connor Naismith]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. That is why it is crucial that those of us who are impacted by HS2 and the discussion around improved future rail infrastructure work together to get the best possible alternative plan on the table and being looked at.

I will make some progress. Within my constituency, Crewe station has strong ties to engineering and advanced manufacturing firms such Bentley and Alstom in Crewe. In the surrounding regions, many businesses exist because of the opportunities that Crewe railway station provides, enabling supply chains and employment opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach and ensuring the growth of local businesses.

Crewe railway station serves as a vital node along the west coast main line, which connects London to the midlands, the north-west and Scotland. Approximately 75% of all freight trains that use the west coast main line pass through Crewe. Again, that is testament to the paramount nature of the station.

However, while I speak openly about the amazing things that Crewe station offers to transport connectivity and our economy across the country, it is clear to both residents and experts that it faces significant challenges. The catchment area around Crewe station is seeing rapid growth because of its connectivity to major economic centres in the UK.