Luton Railway Station

Claire Perry Excerpts

Friday 11th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Claire Perry)]

It is always a pleasure to respond the hon. Member for Luton South (Mr Shuker). He is a Lutonian born and bred, and he speaks very passionately on many issues relating to his constituents.

I want to say that I absolutely share the aspiration of getting this project started. The hon. Gentleman has made the compelling case that, for too long, Luton station has not had the investment it needs. It is the 136th busiest station in the UK, and is used by 3.5 million passengers a year. It is not only an important commuter link to London, but a gateway to the midlands and beyond. The growth and development of the town will only continue, so ridership numbers will increase.

I gently point out to the hon. Gentleman that the Thameslink project—I am very proud that we are close to delivering on this very large investment for his constituents and those in the wider region—will run with brand-new trains. I take his point about 12-car rolling stock, but the upgrade of the tracks and trains was probably neglected by successive Governments. I am very proud to be part of a very pro-rail and pro-rail infrastructure Government.

As the hon. Gentleman knows—I have been pretty fully briefed about this—there are a number of moving parts, so let me summarise my understanding of what is happening. There is a commitment of almost £2 million to the national stations improvement programme: it is funded, ring-fenced and available to go. There are also proposals for the relocation of the ticket machines, and improvements to waiting facilities, as well as retail units, cycle storage and other things that will benefit the station.

Govia Thameslink Railway has made an application to the stations commercial project facility. The hon. Gentleman will understand why I cannot comment on that, given the current stage of the bid allocation process. The announcement of the successful bids will be made shortly.

The area on which there has been great disappointment, because the money is available, is the Access for All funding. We have committed more than £500 million for this work. As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, Luton was one of the first stations selected. It seems as though the whole project has been dogged by delay. As I understand it, Luton fell out of the first wave. It reapplied for the extended programme, which was made available in 2014, and qualified for it, as was absolutely right.

I gently say to the hon. Gentleman that my concern is that if we do not get a scheme started, what happened last time might happen again. It will become harder and harder to defend a scheme when money has been committed but the work has not yet started, given the clamour for support for other commitments from right across the UK. I am very keen to make sure that the money is kept for the improvements at Luton. It would be absolutely ideal to take the two pots together as the start of a project facility and begin to develop a plan.

I want to point out to the hon. Gentleman that he must not doubt this Government’s commitment to investment in infrastructure both in his town and in the region. There has been £26.5 million from the regional growth fund for the improvements to junction 10A on the M1. There has been the further £15 million for the Woodside pinch point link scheme. There have been various other schemes, such as the £126 million from the local growth fund for the area. It is a shame that some of that has not been pulled through to support the station project, as has been done in other areas. Another £80.3 million has come in for the Luton to Dunstable busway, which is helping passengers right across his area. The £24 million Luton town centre transport scheme, to the north of the town centre, was opened in July 2014, with the support of £16 million of Government funding. I hope I have convinced him that the Government have no interest in not investing in the area; it is simply a question of pulling together the available funding and coming up with a scheme that will work.

I do not want to ascribe blame or point fingers at anybody, but it is incumbent on the council, Network Rail and GTR to come together to put together a feasibility scheme. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would be keen to be heavily involved in that, and I will do whatever I can to help him. My Department is fully aware of this matter and has been working closely with Network Rail. Indeed, the council has written to ask for a meeting in the next few weeks and I have asked my officials to arrange it so that we can understand what the scheme looks like.

The hon. Gentleman is a very pragmatic person, so let us focus on what can be delivered for the money that we have to spend on the station, then let us think about what else could be bid for, what could be attracted from the development that is going on in the town and what we could get from broader growth funds. Many of the new station projects that I have the pleasure of going to and welcoming are part-funded by Network Rail and part-funded by other local government pots and growth money. Of course we want to build multi-modal systems and better bus travel, but we must not put other transport modes before the rail passenger experience. The station is a gateway not only for the railway but for the town. Many stations were built as the showcase for the railway that they served, but sadly many of them have fallen into neglect.

I want to point the hon. Gentleman towards a couple of examples that may help him in his conversations with the council, which may want to deliver the big bang scheme that is not fully funded. In Putney, a phased approach was taken to station development. First, the platforms were lengthened, which improved the business case for Access for All, because there was higher passenger usage. That helped to improve the business cases for the new mezzanine raft, then the new ticket office and then the additional retail units. The station became more and more interesting as a place in which to invest both public and private money through that staged approach.

I know that it is more difficult, and of course one wants to have a vision towards which one is working, but a phased approach might be the way to get the project moving and, as the hon. Gentleman said, to get shovels in the ground. At Leyland, which has a smaller station, Lancashire County Council spent £100,000 to draw in match funding to improve the station. That led to £500,000 for a new ticket office and £4 million for three new lifts, delivered in phases.

The hon. Gentleman has to help me make the business case for these investments, against a clamour of competing interests. If he goes off and leads the charge with his local council to come up with a scheme that works—something that can be delivered and that will achieve his aims—we will be able to plug in the funding that is already available and get it spent before the end of this control period. I cannot believe that I am saying those words, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I want to get this money out the door and spent on these disability improvements. He should then look at how that can enhance the business case, so that match funding can be drawn in over a longer period.

As I said, my Department will meet the council over the next few weeks. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will keep me informed of the results, because I want his passengers and his constituents in Luton to benefit from the Government’s record investment plan for rail.

Question put and agreed to.