Aviation Security

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

We are in discussion with the airlines about this. But this measure is not about an inability to take hand baggage into the cabin. If someone arrives at the gate with one of these items in their bag, it will be put in the hold. This is not about saying that people cannot have hand baggage, although some people may choose to put all their hand baggage into the hold; it is simply about the device itself.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

I am not seeking any information from the Secretary of State on the nature of the intelligence, but I am concerned about the implications of the ban on diplomatic relationships with valuable allies. I, too, have returned from Egypt, and if such security relationships are jeopardised, that will jeopardise the longer-term wider security of UK citizens.

[Chris Grayling]

That is precisely why these are difficult issues, and we will do everything we can to strengthen our partnerships with those nations. We are sending a very clear message that we are not saying to people, “As a result of this change, stop flying on those routes,” but saying, “You should probably have more confidence about flying on those routes, because the measures we are putting in place today should protect your safety, rather than have the opposite effect.”

Great Western Line: Electrification

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2016 Westminster Hall

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered electrification of the Great Western line.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. This is a debate that I never wanted to have to bring to the House and I am sure that many other Members felt the same. In doing so, I acknowledge that the Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard)—is relatively new to his post and that many of the problems I am highlighting will be ones that he has inherited. I also acknowledge that he has been and remains a formidable constituency MP, as well as now being a great Minister, so I hope that he will forgive many of us for expressing passionately the views and interests of our constituents. That goes to the heart of why I called for this debate, because I am sure that there are those somewhere who will say, “What is an MP for Bristol North West doing having this debate?” Neither Bristol Parkway nor Bristol Temple Meads are in my constituency, so some will say, “Well, she’s not affected by this.” However, anyone who says that an MP such as me is not affected by this issue misunderstands fundamentally the nature of transport and the nature of our railways in particular.

Our railways are not simply stretches of iron rail in the location where they are constituted; they are the circulation system, if you will, of our regions, our communities and indeed our entire nation. If something happens to one part of that circulation system, it has wide-reaching effects and impacts on the body as a whole.

I applied for this debate because of deep concern about the recent Government announcement of the deferral of electrification, which yet again appears to leave the south-west region trailing behind other parts of the country in terms of transport infrastructure investment.

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. I am sorry to interrupt her so very early in her speech. I know that most of the speeches in the Chamber this afternoon will be about the problems and the deferral of electrification. However, would it not be gracious to say that 10 years ago there was no prospect whatever of electrification anywhere to the west of London? We should be glad that this Conservative Government have delivered electrification as far as Chippenham—in my constituency, or just outside it—and that we have quite a few things to be grateful for, albeit that we also have a few problems.

[Charlotte Leslie]

It is always a profound joy to give way to my hon. Friend. If he had waited for a small amount of time before intervening, I would have come to that point. However, since he has made that case, I can skip over some of my speech, because it is a very valid point. We do not want to let the best become the enemy of the good and I want to acknowledge where we are.

[Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)]

I do not want to dispute the hon. Gentleman’s maths, but given that the decision to electrify the railway was made in 2009, which is less than 10 years ago, I beg to differ with what has just been said.

[Charlotte Leslie]

The hon. Lady also anticipates something that I will raise in my speech. Whichever Government want to make dramatic railway infrastructure improvements, they face challenges. Whether a Labour Minister or a Conservative Minister was sitting in the Minister’s chair here, I suspect that the challenges involved in delivering what they want to do could be very similar. I will come back to that point in my speech.

I am afraid that all south-west MPs might agree that, when we see the bills for HS2 soaring to £42 billon, the deferral of our meagre-by-comparison £5 billion project is particularly hard to swallow, especially since the south-west has consistently been among the bottom regions in the league tables for regional spend per capita.

The south-west is a region that boasts exciting opportunities, that is incredibly fast-growing, and that desperately needs the kind of focus on rail investment that we have seen with HS2 and Crossrail. So, forgive me, Minister, if I say for the south-west that, when it comes to seeing actual infrastructure—not promised but built—many people in the region feel that it is now our turn.

Nevertheless, returning to the point that my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray), raised, there have been improvements and the Government are making efforts. I must also be fair about the context of this debate. I recognise that, this deferral notwithstanding, the region will still receive, which it might not have received otherwise, 5,000 extra seats on journeys into London at peak time. Most of us have made that journey, so we know that those seats will be welcome. We have been promised new trains, which will deliver faster journeys. We are told that there will be station improvements down the line. However, I hope that the Minister will forgive me for being honest and saying that, given the recent announcement of the deferral, we will believe these things when we see them. I would also appreciate a bit more clarity in the Minister’s response about the exact tangible benefits we will get in return for what has been a hard blow in the form of the announcement of deferral.

As I said, the improvements are welcome, and I do not want to be ungracious by denying that. However, major concerns remain about what the decision says about how we do big infrastructure projects and I will be asking the Minister specific questions. If he is not able to answer them today, I would deeply appreciate a detailed written response.

[John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare) (Con)]

I want to pick up on my hon. Friend’s earlier point about the south-west not always being at the front of the queue for such things. Bristol is, I think, the fastest-growing core city outside London, and therefore has a huge economic benefit to bring to the country. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is strange, therefore, that other areas have been given preference on the list for electrification? The deferral also includes the deferral of some of the Thames valley commuter lines and some of the lines to Oxford. Would it not now be sensible to re-examine the business case for the electrification of some of the lines radiating out from Bristol, on the basis that the economic case for Bristol’s economic zone must make it more attractive? That would go some way towards addressing the relatively low priority that Bristol and the south-west have previously been afforded.

[Charlotte Leslie]

If Hansard could kindly ascribe my hon. Friend’s comments to me I would be very grateful, because that is exactly the point I want to make. Yes, it does seem strange. It plays to a historical view that the south-west is always overlooked. I do not understand why we seem to have been axed when other places still seem to be a political priority. On the economic arguments, that does not make sense.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

It is not just the south-west that has been axed from the great western line electrification. I had hoped to be able to contribute to the earlier debate about air quality around Heathrow. One thing that will damage air quality around the airport is the fact that the Windsor-Slough link will remain a diesel one—it will not be electrified, as was originally promised. People like me supported the original proposal for the third runway at Heathrow because we were promised that electrification.

[Charlotte Leslie]

I start my speech by saying that what happens in one area of the country affects another and then I go on to make an unapologetically biased—not biased, but strong—case for the south-west, but I hear exactly what the right hon. Lady says. Something happening in one region deeply affects another, but I continue to make a special case for the south-west, which has not, historically, had its merits duly considered by the Department.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one example of how the south-west does not benefit from investment is that at the moment it is impossible to get a train from Plymouth or Exeter to Bristol along the very great western network on which we rely?

[Charlotte Leslie]

I think that anyone who has travelled that route will echo, with gusto, what my hon. Friend has just said.

Moving on to macro-level concerns, I find the National Audit Office report into the functioning of Network Rail, and into the Department’s ability to project manage and to hold Network Rail to account, deeply concerning. I do not doubt the good intentions of all those involved, but we read in that report about over-optimism from Network Rail on significant elements of the electrification project and about inadequate project management. And the list goes on. The trouble is that it has become almost a matter of course over the years—I have to say, spanning various Governments—to expect any rail project to go way over budget and way over time, under Network Rail. If Britain is to stand a chance of competing globally, that simply is not good enough. I have to add that, from what I have seen, I do not think that Network Rail is a particularly good advert for those who still argue that the state should be running more of our railways. Given Network Rail’s performance, that idea fills me with absolute dread. I am not ideological on that point; I just like to see things work well.

It would be helpful if the Minister could outline what he sees as the main challenges for not just his Government but any Government delivering fit-for-purpose infrastructure projects under our current systems. I am particularly interested in knowing what levers he, as a Minister and an elected representative, has for holding Network Rail, which is, as I understand it, a state function, to account.

I have to confess to being a little confused on a matter of principle regarding the deferral of electrification. I know that the Government are saying that customers need not worry because we will get bigger and faster bi-mode trains delivering all the benefits of electrification without the need for that expensive “wire in the sky”, but if everything is so awesome without electrification, why are we still talking about it at all? If it is all so awesome, why would such improvements from bi-mode rolling stock, for a fraction of the cost, not make electrification a redundant technology? And if it is not redundant, will it not cost more in the long term to do it later rather than sooner? We need more clarity about the Government’s view of the merits of electrification.

I come now to more specific concerns. Have there been wasted works? It seems that significant investment has already been made in preparatory work for electrification that has now been deferred. Can the Minister give a figure for how much that has cost and can he provide a cast-iron guarantee that it is not now money wasted? I understand that Network Rail has suggested that the work to Bristol Temple Meads may now be completed by control period 6. Can the Minister clarify when during CP6 that might be?

Now that there has been a deferral of what was much vaunted electrification, questions are inevitably being asked about the other elements of the modernisation programme. The deferral announcement has dented confidence, and we really need that confidence to be rebuilt. Can the Minister assure us that the other core elements will be completed, such as the Filton bank capacity enhancement project, the new Hitachi hybrid intercity express trains and the two new services per hour between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington that those trains will enable?

[Craig Williams (Cardiff North) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. As a Welsh MP—the only one here, I think—I add my weight to the argument that the south-west is under-represented where infrastructure is concerned and that there is a lack of confidence. Wales is also under-represented. Will the Minister, in his concluding remarks, outline the timetable for the main line electrification and reassure us that that will not slip? Confidence has been knocked.

[Charlotte Leslie]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that extremely good point.

I know that many other Members would like the chance to speak. My final concern, which has been raised locally, is about rolling stock. The effect of the deferral of the electrification of the Thames valley branches on the planned cascade of the Thames turbo class 165 and 166 rolling stock to the west of England is vital to the MetroWest phases 1 and 2 projects. I have been very public about what seems to me, and to many others in the region, an appalling missed opportunity on the part of local decision makers—their failure to prioritise the Henbury loop line in the MetroWest scheme. I have been clear that I do not think that such schemes are ambitious enough to meet the exponentially growing branch line demand in our region; however, they are a start. If the MetroWest scheme, as it is, were to suffer even further detriment, that would be catastrophic for our city and our region. I cannot impress that upon the Minister enough. Can he give assurances today that the rolling stock cascade—the Thames turbo class 165 and 166—will not be affected by the deferral?

I turn briefly to the Bristol East junction and to Temple Meads, issues that the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) will probably want to raise in more detail than I will. I have been pleased to be able to work, in many ways cross-party, on rail for our city. Can we get assurances regarding the concerns about the future of the remodelling of that junction and about plans for transforming Bristol Temple Meads to accommodate new trains at platforms zero and one? I know that the hon. Lady will want to speak about that, but I would like some replies from the Minister.

This is an important debate for so many MPs and so many of their constituents. It is not, as I fear it might be seen by some, people fussing over whether we have wire in the sky. It is about the south-west being sick of being the poor relation in our nation’s transport projects while other high-speed projects go roaring on. It is about a real concern that this is somehow the thin end of a wedge that will see all the progress we have made over the past six years, of which I have been so proud, melt away. It is about all of us here, regardless of party, asking serious questions about whether the mechanisms and bodies that this or any Government have at their disposal to plan and build rail infrastructure are any longer fit for purpose. Given what we have seen of projects soaring over budget and over time and then getting paused, deferred, cancelled or any other word anyone would like to use, under an array of Governments, it is hard to believe that Network Rail is fit for purpose. If it is not, and assuming Britain wants to be a global competitor, can the Minister provide some thoughts on what on earth we are going to do about it?

Several hon. Members rose—

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

Order. The debate is due to finish at 5.45 pm. It is an hour-long debate. It is very difficult to chair because I have an array of parliamentary talent before me and just over 20 minutes of Back-Bench time before I have to call the Front-Bench spokespeople. Unfortunately, I am going to have to impose a time limit of three minutes. If Members intervene on each other, some of you will not get called, but if you stick to three minutes, everyone will get in, and there may be time at the end to intervene on the Front-Bench spokespeople.

--- Later in debate ---

[Charlotte Leslie]

Before I pay tribute to the Minister for answering and to Members who have come here, it is appropriate to pay tribute to Network Rail workers. While Network Rail has taken a bit of a battering for its organisational abilities at the top level, we should pay tribute to those who over the past couple of days have been working so hard to keep our railways running, as well as those at Great Western Railway on the ground who are making passengers’ lives bearable on a day-to-day basis.

We have had a wide-ranging debate. I am proud to be part of a group of powerful women speaking for Bristol, who have dominated the debate in many ways with Bristol’s interests and articulated powerfully Bristol residents’ concerns about the announcement. The case has been made that the whole region is affected by Members from as far afield as Torbay, and my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Ben Howlett) made the case about his city well.

There is anger generally that Network Rail does not seem to be able to deliver the projects that any Government—whether Labour or Conservative—want it to deliver. I take the Minister’s point that not an awful lot of rail was electrified under the previous Labour Government. Perhaps they were wise in leaving it as a promise for the next Government because they realised how difficult that might be to do with the mechanisms they had at their disposal. I pay tribute to our Government for even trying.

I take the point that the project is complex. However, if we are to be a global competitor, we need to sort it out. We can sit and talk about the reasons, the complexities and the sequencing, but other nations in Europe manage to get it done. If we are to compete properly, we need to up our game dramatically.

Infrastructure Bill [Lords]

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Monday 26th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Raynsford]

May I start by drawing attention to my interests, as declared in the register?

I agreed with the right hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) on one point only, which was his opening remark about the lack of time for this debate. I am afraid that I will not have time to explain in detail why he is totally wrong about the Planning Inspectorate, because I want to address two other issues. However, I have to say that over many years the Planning Inspectorate has delivered a highly professional service in assessing developments and giving impartial advice to Ministers, and it would be an absurdity to do away with such a body.

The first issue that I want to cover is the importance of a national infrastructure commission. I am disappointed by the Government’s rejection of that proposal, which was made in a cogent, well-presented and well-received report by Sir John Armitt. In case Members are not familiar with him, Sir John is widely recognised as one of our country’s leading experts in the field and was the chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, which demonstrated remarkably well how to deliver a major infrastructure project in the most exemplary way, so we should pay attention to his recommendations. Those recommendations were not, as some opponents of them have claimed, about taking decision making away from Ministers or Parliament. On the contrary, Sir John’s report was clear that there should be a detailed and thorough appraisal, carried out by experts and then presented to Ministers, who in turn would have a responsibility to report to Parliament on their decisions in response to the infrastructure commission’s recommendations. That would be wholly democratic and ensure that proposals were properly considered by experts before being presented to Ministers, who would then come to Parliament with final decisions.

The second argument that the Minister made against the Armitt report was that the recommended procedure would be too cumbersome and bureaucratic. He conjured up the image of a recommendation being rejected by Parliament, and asked what would then happen. That is pretty rich coming from a Government who have just reduced by one third the total size of the Bill that came back from Committee. That was a fairly enormous decision to reverse a proposal that they had made a little while before, but we have not heard any suggestion that it is somehow a mistake. On the contrary, it is an example of Parliament working well in stopping Ministers doing something ill-considered. The basis of the Minister’s argument is unsound, but in any case, if Parliament is to take decisions, it must be right that it has the discretion to say no occasionally. That seems an entirely admirable principle.

I wish to conclude with a few words about zero-carbon outcomes. The Government are resiling from the commitments that were put in place under the previous Government to achieve those outcomes by 2016. There have been four backtracks. The first was the Government’s abandonment of code level 6, which was the original definition of zero carbon. The second was no longer saying that zero carbon is equivalent to code level 5 and must be delivered in all cases. They now say that the objective is code level 5, but it will be possible not to deliver it under two circumstances. The first is where allowable solutions include off-site contributions, rather than doing it on site—and even there, the Government are not adhering to the principle the Minister enunciated on Second Reading, which was that this should apply only where it is not reasonably practicable to deliver on site. The second relates to the small site exemptions, which are badly drafted and a loophole that could easily be exploited, not by small builders, but by any builders, to fail to deliver on small sites. There has been some serious backtracking by the Government, and if we are to achieve the zero-carbon objective and an effective response to climate change, we will need to revisit these issues in the next Parliament.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

I rise to support new clause 16 and I will be brief. The Government have done a lot on pubs, but I wish to address the points made by the Minister and explain why new clause 16 is, on all fronts, a better and neater solution that the very welcome concession the Government have made.

Let us bust some myths. First, new clause 16 simply puts pubs on the same footing as laundrettes, theatres and—would you believe it—casinos and nightclubs, which currently enjoy more protection under the planning law than pubs do. Most people in this House would think that was very strange and needs rectifying. So there is an easy precedent for this clause and nothing draconian about it.

Secondly, we are being presented with the straw man of boarded up pubs lining our high streets as a result of the new clause. A local pub of mine, The Foresters, was known to be a drug den. It was turned into a Tesco and nobody shed any tears. Had new clause 16 been in place then, that would have simply gone through the planning process, as most things would do. Local authorities have every incentive to approve planning for a derelict site, and so we can discard that straw man out of hand.

Let us look at what the Government have already done. An article 4 direction is well intended, but in practice it is burdensome. People cannot apply for an article 4 direction for their pub unless it has already been threatened, and many communities will want to apply for an article 4 direction before it is threatened. Each article 4 direction is expensive, costing between £2,000 and £3,000 for local authorities, which are already stretched. If communities wanted to protect every pub in the country, the cost would be about £50 million to £100 million. However, a much more fundamental question lies at the heart of this issue: what is localism? In a welcome move towards localism, this Government decided that it is about local planners making decisions, as is the case elsewhere in localism. However, the Government’s concession seems to present it as a patchy, bureaucratic position, which also favours those with sharp elbows. I am deeply concerned that it will be inequitable in practice.

I am particularly puzzled as to why the Government’s default position is against, not for, community pubs. Most of us would consider that the default position should be for the community pub and in favour of the community, not in favour of developers, who can move far faster than communities, particularly our most vulnerable ones. Indeed, if the Government had implemented new clause 16 long ago, we would have avoided the confusion involving, and potential overlap between, assets of community value and article 4 directions. I very much welcome the Government’s move, but we have a short time left in this Parliament. Indeed, we are on last orders for our parliamentary time—[Interruption.] Thank you very much; I am here all night. There is doubt as to whether we would actually be able to make this proposal in time. I thank the Government for their welcome move, but new clause 16 does it better, it does it here, and this evening we have an opportunity to do it now.

[Dr Whitehead]

I congratulate the Minister on keeping a straight face while introducing his proposals for the Government to introduce zero-carbon homes. He knows that the proposals go away from zero-carbon homes, systematically and determinedly, and do not move us towards them, as had originally been intended under the code for zero-carbon homes, and the time scales and levels it proposed. As we have heard, we are moving away from code level 6 and down to code level 5. As the Minister says, code level 4 is regarded as the starting point for alleged zero-carbon homes, but there are exceptions within that relating to affordable solutions and the small site exemptions where fewer than 10 units are being built, which will affect about 20% of new builds. That is nothing like having zero-carbon homes for the future. The amendments try to put this at least some way back on track, and I urge hon. Members to examine them carefully and support them if they value zero-carbon homes for the future, as I am sure we all do, in making sure that our building stock is of the best quality we can get for future sustainability.

Road Investment Strategy

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I announced several points that will affect that particular area. They will go a long way to relieving some of the congestion to which my hon. Friend refers, and I think that is welcomed by most Members in East Anglia.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

I very much welcome the announcement of a new junction on the M49 to support the enterprise zone in Avonmouth, which was a local enterprise partnership priority. Could the Secretary of State reassure me that the Government are also considering rail for that area so that this extra junction does not create extra traffic chaos, particularly given the enormous planned housing development there, so we can we can have a western hub as well as a northern hub?

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend has been to see me about rail infrastructure in her constituency. I said then that we would work with her on her suggestions. I stand by that commitment and we will continue to work with her.

Oral Answers to Questions

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

The simple fact is that the reduction in rail fares announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in the autumn statement has been widely welcomed by various organisations including Transport 2000, and I am very proud that we have managed to do something. The hon. Lady mentions the “flex”. We have reduced the extent to which the “flex” can be exercised, which the last Government never did.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to invest in local railway branch lines.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond)]

It is for local authorities, working with local enterprise partnerships, to determine whether investment in a local branch line is the best way to meet local transport needs. Local enterprise partnerships have been invited to bid for the local growth fund, and we encourage them to bid for funds to invest in transport schemes.

[Charlotte Leslie]

The Minister knows that I have long campaigned to reopen the Henbury loop line. There are advanced plans for a large stadium development as well as significant housing in the area that the Henbury loop would serve. Does the Minister not think that such large infrastructure projects could have a massively positive impact on the business case for such a line?

[Stephen Hammond]

I am well aware of my hon. Friend’s long-standing campaign. She would not expect me to comment on a specific scheme, but stadium developments such as those are exactly the sort of thing that local enterprise partnerships and local authorities will want to look at. I met representatives of the West of England LEP on 22 November, and I am aware of phase 2 of its MetroWest scheme. It has been allocated £44.9 million for improvements in the six-year period to 2021.

Oral Answers to Questions

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Thursday 7th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

We all want local authority highways agencies to give greater consideration to cycling. After meeting British Cycling a few weeks ago, I instructed the Highways Agency that all the highways schemes that it comes forward with must be cycle-proofed. There are some irresponsible drivers and some irresponsible cyclists. We all have a responsibility to get the message across to everybody: “Be careful on our roads.”

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

T8. How can the Secretary of State reassure the people of Bristol, who want enhanced branch lines, that having HS2 for London and the north will not mean that the south-west is left out? Will he look positively at bids to reopen the Henbury loop line in north Bristol?

West Coast Main Line

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

The time that bidders walked away was under the previous Government, when the operators on the east coast main line did so. There are lessons to be learned. I shall not prejudge what the inquiries might tell us, but I am looking forward to their results and hope that we can then move on based on a safer footing.

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement about the Brown review. Will he assure me that this pause will be an opportunity to ensure that on other franchises, such as the Great Western franchise, we seize opportunities when they exist? In my area, that would include a full Bristol metro with a full Henbury loop line to complete the circle line around Bristol.

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am not sure whether the second part of my hon. Friend’s question was a bid, but on the first part I can assure her that the reviews will inform us and that we will take note of them. I would not have set them up if we were not going to do so.

Local Rail Services (Bristol)

Charlotte Leslie Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Charlotte Leslie (Bristol North West) (Con)]

This debate is on the future of local Bristol rail, an issue that affects not only my constituency of Bristol North West and the city of Bristol but, because the south-west is so important a part of Britain, our nation as a whole.

Bristol is a significant city facing enormous developments, but the transport infrastructure is poor. Traffic congestion at our key motorway junctions can stifle the city and—not unrelated—bus fares are among the highest in Europe. Indeed, instead of being the gateway to the south-west, Bristol and its region can be described as the tourniquet of the south-west. The city is not standing still, however, with a new deep-water port at the port of Bristol making the docks of greater national and international significance, the possible sale for commercial use of Filton airfield in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke (Jack Lopresti) and the substantial housing development across the northern arc of Bristol. They are all opportunities but, unless the city’s transport infrastructure is capable of supporting them, opportunities could represent burdens. I asked for this debate to emphasise to the Government the importance of supporting long-term transport infrastructure in Bristol, and to point firmly towards rail providing the bedrock of that transportation.

I am delighted that electrification of the Bristol to London line is going ahead—a major boost for the city—and it paves the way for the kind of long-term thinking we need.

[Stephen Williams (Bristol West) (LD)]

I agree with my hon. Friend that the electrification of the Great Western main line is a fantastic announcement by the coalition Government. Does she agree that that announcement will be enhanced if we could get a commitment from the Government for the Severn Beach line, which is merely a small spur off the main line, to be electrified at the same time?

[Charlotte Leslie]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point, which anticipates what I was going to say. He has done a lot of work lobbying for electrification, and I thank him for that.

The electrification is fantastic and, as I said, long-term thinking is massively important, not that the current smaller schemes for improvement are not welcome. However, unless we also think long term, and think big, those improvements will merely scratch the surface and we will not have the available infrastructure to maximise the effects of the small schemes. I am tempted to draw an analogy with Joseph Bazalgette’s building of the great London sewer system. There is no more time for devising more effective ways of throwing waste out of the window. For transport in Bristol, we need to devise a structural system that completely changes the way we do things.

When we come to the solution, there is good news: the bare bones of that new structure for transport in Bristol already exist. Disused and used freight lines lace the city, in particular in and around my constituency of Bristol North West, in the north of the city, and there are disused stations such as Henbury. The city of Bristol is sitting on a dormant giant of rail travel.

I have campaigned with the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways and others for a Henbury station and a Henbury loop line. The solution is a no-brainer: the resurrection of our local lines in Bristol, to complete the circle line around the city that we partially enjoy already with the Severn Beach line. A Henbury loop circle line could link with the major stations of Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway, and could provide a reference point for shuttle transport to major visitor destinations such as the Mall at Cribbs Causeway, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Filton and Bradley Stoke. He cannot be here today because he is opening the new St Peter’s school in Pilning, but he has rightly said that, given the likely commercial and residential development if the sale of Filton airfield goes ahead, the case for examining existing rail provision and the possibility of resurrecting mothballed stations such as Filton would be really strong. With section 106 moneys coming from the significant housing development in the area, investment for such infrastructure does not seem out of the question.

In Bristol, which in the past I have talked about in terms of “A Tale of Two Cities” because of the deep socio-economic divides running through it, a circle line could open access and economic regeneration to some of the more deprived pockets of our great city, but the economic benefits do not end there. I understand that some Ministers have already travelled on the Severn Beach line, which runs from Temple Meads station up the west side of the city. That suburban line provides a demonstration of the untapped need and desire for local railway infrastructure, and the benefits of pump-priming investment. Since welcome investment by Bristol city council in 2008, which my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Stephen Williams) was active in campaigning for, introducing more frequent services on the Severn Beach line, passenger numbers have rocketed by about 60%, enabling a long-term subsidy decrease as the service becomes economically more successful. Were the circle line circuit complete around the city, that percentage of passenger increase and revenue would likely be an awful lot higher—but what we need is joined-up thinking.

Among parliamentarians, I am delighted there is broad and energetic consensus on the need to work together for the future of rail in our region. Sadly, in the past, however, a certain lack of co-ordination has led to our region missing out on some major transport investment opportunities. That is why I take this opportunity to back strongly the creation of an integrated transport authority for the region. Other areas, such as West Yorkshire and Merseyside, have seen a major resurrection of their local suburban rail services and they have something significant in common: an ITA. So I congratulate our local paper, the Evening Post, and a one-man campaigning army, Dave Wood, on making the case for an ITA so energetically.

An integrated transport vision is as central to the beating heart of our city as a circulation system of veins, arteries and capillaries. With a strong, united voice, bids for projects such as the reopening of the Portishead line and the Henbury loop line can be more effective. If other regions can do it, why cannot we? The strong progress of our local enterprise partnership gives further hope and might provide a great basis for more joined-up thinking. So the big vision is a circulation system of rail around Bristol, linking with cycling and bus routes, and park and ride, to make all the schemes more effective.

More specifically, a major structural concern is to secure quadruple tracking up the Filton bank to Parson Street station, to alleviate the significant bottleneck which limits services locally. Failing to secure that now is a false economy, holding us back for the future, in particular given the existing demonstrable demand for more services. The electrification of the Bristol to London route is incredibly welcome, not only in itself but for the further opportunities it will provide, but any update from the Minister on how far the electrification will extend—for example, to Yate or Weston—would be most appreciated. Such an extension would open enormous opportunities for the suburban lines, with greater flexibility in rolling stock, new routes and diversionary routes for electric trains when needed. A 30-minute service from and to all stations in the former Avon area would be transformational, although it is quite a modest vision when compared with other major cities around the country.

As I said, the reopening of the Henbury loop and Portishead lines are particularly important specific proposals. An issue worked on and frequently raised by the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) is the safeguarding of Plot 6 at Temple Meads for a bus and train interchange. In the more immediate term, I seek clarification from the Minister about additional carriages for crowding relief in Bristol; more rolling stock is badly needed, which is an indication of the appetite for rail travel and the enormous unmet demand. I ask him to consider that seriously.

A Henbury loop line circuit is big thinking indeed, but rail gets to the core of tackling the underlying problems of Bristol’s transport system. Rail infrastructure for Bristol would be an absolute game changer for all the other methods of transport that we need to improve, freeing up the roads for buses and cyclists and transforming the park-and-ride potential. The idea has backing—indeed, the scheme is recommended in Network Rail’s route utilisation strategy—and I ask the Minister to look specifically at backing the scheme with practical financial support. Yes, the thinking is ambitious and long term, but I argue strongly that long-term strategic thinking and infrastructure investment is exactly what is needed if the entire Bristol region is to meet the real, pressing and ever-increasing transport challenges of the future. I called for the debate today because the future comes sooner than we think.

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

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