Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Hazelgrove Excerpts

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

In Chorley’s case, work started but it has still not been finished. It was abandoned halfway through.

[Claire Hazelgrove (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Lab)]

Residents across my constituency regularly raise with me the issue of potholes and the state of our roads in general. I greatly appreciate the additional funding provided by the Government to South Gloucestershire council to help with improvements. This is about safety. It also about pride of place and the costs of vehicle repairs—all these things matter—so what will the next steps be to support councils to keep roads up to scratch once the potholes are filled?

[Lilian Greenwood]

We are providing record amounts for local authorities this year, and we hope to provide a long-term funding settlement for local roads maintenance after the spending review.

A432 Badminton Road Bridge

Claire Hazelgrove Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Claire Hazelgrove (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Lab)]

I welcome the debate of my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Thornbury and Yate (Claire Young), although I would have appreciated some notification of the debate, given that the bridge also sits within my constituency and impacts my residents every single day in exactly the same way as it does hers.

I completely agree with the challenges that have been described. Delays in getting home, to work or to a doctor’s appointment are very real challenges. As the leader of the council at the time the big challenges with the bridge were discovered, when National Highways thought that it needed to intervene to close the bridge because things had got to that stage, the hon. Lady has deep insight into those challenges. I welcome the work that she and others, including Ian Boulton, who was co-leader of the council at the time, have done alongside council officers to mitigate the impact of the bridge closure. I work closely with them and get regular updates, for which I am very grateful as a constituency MP. That close relationship between the council and MPs is what our constituents want. They want us to work together with council leaders in South Gloucestershire, and I am fully committed to that.

Although there are delays and we wish the bridge could be opened soon—I echo that desire—I understand that National Highways has brought about this work as quickly as it could. We seek to communicate that to residents —I know that I do as an MP—so that they know the hard and fast work being done. National Highways recognises the importance of this bridge as an artery across and between our communities for people to get to work and see family members. My hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Sadik Al-Hassan), who is sitting beside me, knows the situation well, he having lived just on the other side of the bridge for a long time. He can attest to the delays and the challenges that the situation is causing hard-working families and individuals across our community.

A lot of local people recognise not only the challenge, but the ambition being led by the council, alongside National Highways, to ensure that the new bridge can serve our communities in the way that it needs to in the long term—that is positive. The consultation work done over a long while on ways to bring in active travel measures and offer more opportunities will serve our communities well in the long term. I hear and echo the challenges that have been described, which my residents and I share and understand, but I am optimistic about the long-term future of the bridge. I hope that it can be an example of the good types of bridges that we want to see elsewhere across our country.

I will leave it there for now. I wanted to share those additional and important factors, as well as the views of local people on my side of the bridge.