Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of marking England’s historic county boundaries on the motorway network in accordance with section 3.47 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The decision on whether to mark historic county boundaries on road signs is for each local highway authority, or, in the case of the Strategic Road Network, for Highways England, to consider. Highways England has no plans to install any such signs.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to restore the Stockport rail viaduct.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Stockport Viaduct is a vital part of the railway infrastructure and Network Rail take seriously the responsibility to maintain it in safe working order. They carry out detailed examinations of the structure and address any defects or problems these highlight. This year Network Rail have spent £50k on repairing the brick work in areas highlighted by their examinations.
Network Rail have a specific £1m fund for Control Period 6 (1 April 2019- 31 March 2024) to be used on brick repair and de-vegetation work on the viaduct.
Network Rail look to manage any graffiti on the viaduct in accordance with their policies and will review any specific areas of concern and will take action where appropriate.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2020 to Question 114087 on Transport for Greater Manchester and Transport for London: Finance, how much funding his Department has allocated to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Payments to Greater Manchester Combined Authority and associated bodies (Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority and Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive) over the last 10 years amount to £1.709.5bn.
Financial Year | 10/11 | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 14/15 | 15/16 | 16/17 | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | Total |
Amount (£m) | 171.1 | 266.2 | 188.9 | 139.4 | 180.3 | 178.4 | 113.2 | 66.4 | 65.3 | 133.3 | 207.0 | 1,709.5 |
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding (a) Transport for London and (b) Transport for Greater Manchester has received from the Government for (i) capital projects and (ii) general operations in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department for Transport (DfT) has paid £883,925,106 (£884M) directly to Transport for London over the last 10 years. DfT has made payments directly to Transport for Greater Manchester totalling £347.6m in the last 10 years. DfT also makes payments to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority who then pay Transport for Greater Manchester for their required transport needs.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to reform taxi and private hire licensing.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department is supporting licensing authorities to make use of their extensive existing powers through the recently issued Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards and will consult on updated best practice guidance on other matters later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implied zebra crossings on side roads.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The layout of zebra crossings is prescribed in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (TSRGD). Under TSRGD, a zebra crossing must consist of black and white stripes, give-way lines, zig-zag markings and yellow globes. TSRGD also requires a driver or cyclist to give way to anyone on the crossing.
Installation of zebra crossings is the responsibility of the local traffic authority. A zebra crossing consisting only of black and white stripes, as proposed by Transport for Greater Manchester, would not meet the requirements of TSRGD, and as such pedestrians would have no right of way when using it.
The Department is aware that Transport for Greater Manchester have been carrying out some research to support their suggestion to introduce simplified zebra crossings at side roads in Manchester, but this has been paused during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Zebra crossings have been in use for a long time in this country, they are widely recognised and understood, and have a good road safety record, and the Department has no plans to change their design.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to include Madeira on the list of countries and territories with no self-isolation on arrival in England during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Our approach to travel corridors has been guided by the science and we have worked closely with health and policy experts from across government to ensure the steps we are taking will minimise the risk of importing COVID-19 cases, while helping to open our travel and tourism sector. The Joint Biosecurity Centre, in close consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Chief Medical Officer, has developed an approach to assessing the public health risk associated with inbound travel from specific countries and territories. The resulting categorisation methodology has been informed by a number of factors including an estimate of the proportion of the population that is currently infectious in each country, trends in virus incidences and deaths, transmission status and international epidemic intelligence. We have also considered issues such as the testing capacity of each country and the quality of the data available.
Although Madeira was not included in the travel corridors announced on 3 July, the Health Regulations relating to the self-isolation requirements remain under constant review. The next formal review will be on 27 July 2020.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2020 to Question 68683 on Roads: Greater Manchester, whether Highways England will be fined for breaching clean air obligations to communities adjoining the strategic highway network.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are working across Government, including with Highways England, and with local authorities, to deliver our 2017 Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations and achieve compliance as quickly as possible, without recourse to fines.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2020 to Question 68683 on Roads: Greater Manchester, whether local authorities will be fined for breaching clean air obligations to communities adjoining the strategic highway network.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are working across Government, including with Highways England, and with local authorities, to deliver our 2017 Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations and achieve compliance as quickly as possible, without recourse to fines.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2020 to Question 68683 on Roads: Greater Manchester, what steps he plans to take to introduce measures complementary to the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan to reduce air pollution on the Trunk Road Network in (a) Tameside and (b) Stockport.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We are working across Government, including with Highways England, and with local authorities, to deliver our 2017 Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations and achieve compliance as quickly as possible.
The Mottram Moor link road and A57(T) to A57 link road, which Highways England is due to start construction on in the current road period, will contribute to improvements in air quality in the area.