Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how he plans to allocate the £200 million of increased funding to transform bus services announced in the Spending Round 2019.
Answered by George Freeman
On 30 September this year, the Government announced a package to transform bus services. This package, worth £220 million in the first year, includes:
Investing up to £50 million to deliver Britain’s first all-electric bus town or city;
Introducing the first ‘Superbus’ network approach to deliver low fare high frequency services in Cornwall;
£30 million extra bus funding to be paid directly to local authorities to enable them to improve current bus services or to restore lost services;
Investing over £20 million in bus priority measures in the West Midlands; and
£20 million to support demand responsive services in rural and suburban areas.
Further details of the package can be found online with the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-better-deal-for-bus-users/a-better-deal-for-bus-users
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will introduce a vehicle labelling scheme for new and second-hand cars and vans detailing the real world nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter emissions of vehicles.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government currently has no plans to introduce a UK-specific vehicle labelling scheme for emissions of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, but has taken a leading role in the development of Green New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP), a consumer information programme aimed at providing clear guidance on the environmental performance of new vehicles.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been provided by local authorities in England that are in receipt of funding from the Clean Bus Technology Fund to (a) Go-Ahead, (b) Arriva, (c) Stagecoach and (d) FirstGroup.
Answered by George Freeman
Funding through the Clean Bus Technology Fund is paid to local authorities who then enter their own contracts with bus companies.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of buses in England have been retrofitted using funding from the Clean Bus Technology Fund since 2015 to September 2019.
Answered by George Freeman
344 buses have been retrofitted using funding from the 2015 Clean Bus Technology Fund (CBTF) and to date 1,677 have been retrofitted under the 2017-19 CBTF. There are approximately 35,000 buses in the English bus fleet, meaning around 5.8% of the total fleet has been retrofitted between 2015 and September 2019 through the CBTF. A further 2,793 buses are scheduled to be retrofitted from the most recent round of funding. Many buses are Euro VI or better and are already of a standard that does not require retrofitting in order to avoid Clean Air Zone charges.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the number of vehicles using (a) the M4, (b) the M25, (c) the A4 and (d) the local road network to access Heathrow airport in each of the last two years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
As part of the Department’s National Statistics series on Road Traffic, the Department produces annual estimates of the average daily flow of vehicles on the major roads near Heathrow airport. The Department does not know the destination of these vehicles.
The table below provides a breakdown of vehicle flow estimates on sections of (a) the M4, (b) the M25 and (c) the A4 close to Heathrow airport for 2016 and 2017 – the latest years available.
Average Daily Flow Estimates of motor vehicles on the M4, M25, and A4 near Heathrow Terminals – 2016 and 2017
For terminals 2 & 3 |
| Average Daily Flow | |
Road link by direction | Traffic count-point ID | 2016 | 2017 |
M4 westbound - before junction 4 | CP 6013 | 73,421 | 70,077 |
M4 eastbound - before junction 4 | CP 16012 | 72,498 | 74,388 |
M25 southbound - before junction 15 | CP 7902 | 97,584 | 101,256 |
M25 northbound - before junction 15 | CP 27923 | 105,827 | 103,287 |
A4 eastbound - before T2&3 | CP 56114 | 10,451 | 10,406 |
A4 westbound - before T2&3 | CP 16112 | 6,807 | 7,977 |
For terminals 4 & 5 |
| Average Daily Flow | |
Road link by direction | Traffic count-point ID | 2016 | 2017 |
M4 westbound - before junction 4b | CP 16012 | 74,344 | 79,547 |
M4 eastbound - before junction 4b | CP 48582 | 75,076 | 72,544 |
M25 northbound - before junction 14 | CP 47876 | 104,525 | 97,377 |
M25 southbound - before junction 15 | CP 27923 | 108,635 | 107,772 |
Vehicle counts are collected at a sample of locations on (d) the local road network. These can be accessed via the Department’s interactive map here:
https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/manualcountpoints
Contextual information can be found on the data.gov.uk website here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-traffic-statistics
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report entitled Highways England’s approach to delivering schemes through its ring-fenced funds, published in February 2018, whether the overall performance of the Highways England Air Quality Fund remains rated as red.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The red rating in the report prepared for the Office of Rail & Road (ORR) recognised the lack of available effective options (at that time) for mitigating poor air quality. Since then, Highways England have been undertaking an extensive programme of air quality research, and have identified large barriers, overhanging part of the carriageway, as a potentially effective measure.
Highways England have also developed an outline implementation programme. Drawing on the Air Quality Designated Fund, based substantially on the provision of these barriers in specific locations.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the Highways England Air Quality Fund was spent up to November 2018; and how much is planned to be spent in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Since the start of the first Road Investment Period in April 2015 and up to November 2018, £2.82 million of Highways England’s ring-fenced Air Quality Designated Fund has been invested. In 2018 – 19, Highways England anticipates spending £8.6 million of this fund.
Investment plans for 2019 – 20, including support to the Government’s National Air Quality Plan, are still under development. The indicative forecast is £54 million currently.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the expansion of Heathrow Airport on local road networks.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) was designated on 26 June 2018, paving the way for a development consent application. As part of the development of the Airports NPS, an Appraisal of Sustainability was undertaken which included analysis of surface impacts for all three options shortlisted by the Airports Commission.
As part of the surface access requirements in the Airports NPS, the Government has specified that any applicant for development consent must submit a surface access strategy as part of their application.