Asked by: Aphra Brandreth (Conservative - Chester South and Eddisbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has for capital investment in (a) rail and (b) road infrastructure in Chester South and Eddisbury constituency to secure economic growth for the cross-border manufacturing cluster.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and we are absolutely committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with local leaders. Our Budget in October 2024 confirmed we are progressing planning and design work to support future delivery of our plans for northern rail connectivity and, following the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2, we are considering how to address capacity and connectivity issues north of Birmingham.
We are also going beyond the government’s promise to fix an additional 1 million potholes per year and providing a £500 million cash increase on 2024-25 local roads maintenance baseline funding, for 2025-26. Chester South and Eddisbury Parliamentary constituency is across two local authority areas, Cheshire West and Chester, and Cheshire East. For 2025-26, Cheshire West and Chester will receive an uplift in highways maintenance funding of £4,084,000 for a total of £15,515,000, and Cheshire East will receive an uplift of £5,546,000 for a total of £21,030,000.
Future funding for capital investment in transport will be determined as part of DfT’s spending review, scheduled for spring 2025. This process will involve assessing national priorities and allocating resources accordingly to address critical infrastructure needs.