A432 Badminton Road Bridge

Claire Young Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

I want to start by setting the scene. The A432 M4 overbridge forms part of a key route from my constituency into Bristol. It was erected in 1966 when the M4 was built and is a post-tensioned concrete bridge. That is, it has high-strength steel tendons in ducts within concrete to which tension was applied after the concrete set, before they were anchored in concrete and the ducts filled in with grouting. I will come back to the problems of such bridges later, but for now the key point to note is that it usually takes around 16,000 vehicles a day over the motorway to the Wick Wick roundabout, where drivers can continue on the A432 into Bristol or take the A4174 ring road.

I say usually, because in June 2023 National Highways closed the bridge, having given 48 hours’ notice to South Gloucestershire council, of which I was leader at the time. In December 2023, after six months of investigations, National Highways announced that the bridge would have to be replaced and could not reopen in the meantime, and that the work would take between two and three years, backdated to June. At one point, an end date of 2025 was mentioned, but that has now become the spring of 2026.

The closure is having a massive impact on local residents. The official diversion is long, so many of the 16,000 vehicles are ending up on local country lanes such as Henfield Road, Ram Hill and Down Road. Even part of the official diversion route is only a C road. The council has put in extensive measures to improve traffic flow, but roads are taking loads that they were never designed to take. That is resulting in long queues, residents being unable to get out of their properties safely or at all, and more potholes and the edges of roads breaking up. Heavy goods vehicles are using roads with weight limits and there is no enforcement to stop them. Henfield Road and Ram Hill are in a quiet lanes scheme, where walkers, cyclists, horse riders and drivers are supposed to share the roads respectfully, but that is not happening.

The situation has also exacerbated flooding on Henfield Road, and high levels of traffic are pushing water on to people’s properties. That has left villagers feeling cut off, especially when flooding has taken other routes out of action. Further, when the bridge is demolished, which we are told is due to happen in March, pedestrians and cyclists will also be forced to divert.

Above all, people question the length of time that it is taking to replace the bridge. One wrote:

“For the past 16 months, we have had just one route to exit Yate to reach the city centre, which has been plagued by continuous temporary traffic lights—often two sets on Bristol Road. Why is it taking so long?”

Another said:

“When the bridge is eventually replaced, it’s likely to be the best part of 3 years to fix the issue. This is an utter embarrassment and quite frankly an absolute disgrace. The inconvenience this is causing to businesses, commuters and homeowners to name but a few is immeasurable. Those responsible for this debacle should hang their heads in shame.”

The closure has left the usually busy stretch of Badminton Road between Coalpit Heath and the bridge practically deserted, which has had a huge impact on local businesses. Kevin at the Bigger Eater burger van has been trading in that lay-by for 30 years. He provided a great service to local people during the pandemic, but the loss of passing trade because of the closure could be the final straw. There is also a kebab van in the lay-by in the evenings. Viaduct Café has lost 60% of its turnover since the bridge closed, resulting in its losing half of its staff. The premises where it is located have lost two business tenants. PM Autos, which services cars and has an agreement to take vehicles for their MOT to a garage in Downend on the other side of the closure, has to take a round-about route that adds significantly to the time taken and cuts into their takings. The Golden Heart pub has lost the passing trade of people deciding to stop for a meal on their way home from work. Heritage Sheds and Fencing has complained that potential customers are not sure whether it is still open; again, it is losing trade.

The impact on the local economy does not seem to be fully recognised. This is not something that businesses can reasonably insure against, yet when I wrote to the Minister I was told simply that there is no right to passing trade. In the same way that viable businesses needed help to see them through covid, these businesses need support to ensure that they survive this closure.

Although the bridge is the responsibility of National Highways, it has fallen to South Gloucestershire council to deal with the impacts that I have described on the local road network. I wish to put on record my thanks to the many officers involved for their efforts in responding to such an unexpected event. After initial monitoring, they put in place temporary measures, including traffic lights, road closures and temporary signage, and when it was confirmed that the road would remain closed for two to three years, they reviewed the existing measures and implemented more. Although some were funded by National Highways, others were deemed to be an “existing problem”—overlooking the fact that the closure is exacerbating those existing problems—or too far away to be related to the bridge, despite the fact that closing such a major route has ripple effects across the local road network.

Unfortunately, the measures that the council put in place are not enough, for example, to stop the HGVs using unsuitable roads, because any physical measures that stop lorries also stop buses, and the police do not have the resources to enforce the restrictions. For a long-term issue such as this, it is vital that the police have the resources to manage it. I also highlight the impacts on other council services: carers, waste lorries and so on all have to take longer routes

The council has been dealing with extensive communication from the public and liaising with National Highways, the police and bus operators, which has been a significant drain on resources in itself. One thing that I was determined to do when I became leader of South Gloucestershire council was improve communication with our residents. In the case of the bridge closure, that meant doing video updates in which we put residents’ questions to National Highways officers. At the beginning, it felt that getting information out of National Highways to share with the public would be a challenge, but I am pleased to say that it got on board with the updates, so much so that I understand it was considering rolling them out elsewhere in the country. Not only have the video updates continued with my successor, but National Highways has attended public-engagement sessions alongside councillors and council officers. Although communication cannot remove all the frustration and disruption, it is vital that people know what is going on and can get answers to their questions.

Why am I bringing what could appear to be a hyper-local issue to the House? I believe that there is a significant wider risk. National Highways manages 169 post- tensioned concrete bridges on the strategic road network in the south-west alone, and 1,195 nationwide. In addition, there are an estimated 675 that are the responsibility of 105 local highway authorities. Of those 675, research by the RAC Foundation in 2021 reported that a whopping 293 required intrusive inspections that could cost £100,000.

“CS 465 Management of post-tensioned concrete bridges”, a document I am sure we are all familiar with, says in its introduction that

“tendons can be vulnerable to corrosion and severe deterioration where internal grouting of tendon ducts is incomplete and moist air, water and contaminants can enter the ducting system.”

It goes on to say that

“construction practices and a lack of maintenance”

are the key factors affecting deterioration. In the case of the A432 bridge, workers discovered when they drilled through to the tendons that the grouting was missing.

CS 465 also explains that the problem with post-tensioned concrete bridges is that “safety critical defects in post-tensioned concrete are typically hidden, very difficult to detect and may result in a brittle mode of failure.”

Unfortunately, visual inspections alone will not give warning of imminent collapse, and intrusive investigations can be expensive and potentially damaging. If a problem is identified, these bridges have to be removed very carefully, as the tendons are under tension—if we think about what happens when we release a taut elastic band, we can see why that would be dangerous. With many bridges having been built during the height of motorway building in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it is entirely possible that this sort of major disruption is coming to many other communities across the country.

I come now to my asks of the Minister. Given the high level of disruption and the local dismay about the length of time the work is taking, will the Minister work with National Highways to try to bring forward the reopening of the road? Turning to the wider issue, what reassurance can the public have that all the thousands of post-tension concrete bridges in the UK are safe? What is the plan to ensure that that is the case, and has it been reviewed in the 19 months since this bridge was discovered to be failing? How will lessons be learned from this experience to reduce the time needed to replace other bridges that are identified as failing?

Will the Minister review how residents and businesses are supported and compensated when National Highways inflict significant disruption on them for an extended period? Will he also look at how the local highway authority is helped to manage its road network when impacted by a National Highways closure, and at how the police are resourced to help it to do that? Will he review how the assessment is made of which measures should fall within the costs ascribed to National Highways, whether an existing problem is being worsened by the closure, and how widely the impact is recognised, so that local highway authorities are not left with huge bills? Will the Minister consider the approach taken to communications in this case, and work with National Highways so that initiatives such as the video updates are rolled out to other incidents, to ensure timely communication with the public?

I have previously spoken in this House about the financial challenges facing local authorities in simply trying to maintain basic infrastructure, even without additional problems such as this road closure. Will the Minister commit to giving South Gloucestershire council the money that it needs to restore the damaged roads when the bridge has reopened?

Old Oak Common Station

Claire Young Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Max Wilkinson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The impact on tourism is felt by all our constituencies in the west, many of which are tourism hotspots. The point about connectivity is important. If we can have 5G on the Elizabeth line in London, which is already well served by public transport, why can I not have 5G in the countryside between Swindon and Stroud when I travel back to my constituency? It makes no sense. The benefits to business users would surely justify the investment.

I have already asked the rail industry whether progress might be made on the frustrating turnaround times at Gloucester, which delay Cheltenham passengers every day. I accept that it is unlikely that any progress will made soon, but what chance is there of improving rail infrastructure around Gloucester, to remove the need for the driver to switch from one end of the train to the other—a very 20th-century solution?

Finally, I come to the trains themselves. The current rolling stock is functional, but what plans do Ministers have to make the carriages more pleasant? Older constituents recall the days of comfortable seats and a buffet carriage with snacks. In other European nations, inter-city trains even have carriages with special family-friendly areas where children can play. A civilised and family-friendly nation should surely consider that.

It is no exaggeration to say that weekends are a nightmare. What are Ministers doing in the short term and during the period of disruption to ensure that a Sunday timetable actually runs between London and the west country?

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

My hon. Friend raises the need for improvements. The key issue for commuters in my constituency is that the existing GWR mainline is not fit for purpose. In recent weeks, we have seen significant delays and diversions caused by flooding and signalling failures, which has created even more pressure on other parts of the already overstretched network. Does he agree that work at Old Oak Common needs to be accompanied by immediate investment in existing infrastructure to improve the reliability of services for people from the west?

[Max Wilkinson]

I absolutely do. My hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) made the point that, compared with HS2, the amount of money that needs to be invested for improvement in the west country is relatively small.

By way of compensation to Cheltenham for the disruption, can the Minister please ask Network Rail to stop blocking the long-awaited extension to the cycle path that links Cheltenham town centre to the station? Network Rail has been getting in the way of that development for years. It just needs to get out of the way to improve connectivity in my constituency.

I have asked a number of questions, which are intended as helpful contributions. I am sure that other hon. Members will have pertinent points about the impact on their constituencies. Before I finish, I would like to pay tribute to the work of the hon. Member for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard), the new Minister for the Armed Forces. Having researched this issue in the previous Parliament, he played a leadership role by passing on information to new hon. Members, helping to bring about today’s debate, for which we thank him.

Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and Local Road Networks

Claire Young Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)]

I am delighted to have secured this Adjournment debate. I thank the Minister for attending and for the engagement that we have had prior to the debate. I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I am a county councillor in Oxfordshire.

In Bicester in my constituency, the delivery of East West Rail will lead to the closure of London Road. That is the only road joining the south-east with the centre of town. Closing it without providing a replacement will cut the town in two. I have secured this debate to highlight the problem and to seek the Minister’s support in finding a suitable solution for our town that will keep London Road open to pedestrians, cyclists and car users. Given that the frequency of rail services is set to double from 2025, I hope that she will recognise the urgency of the issue.

The general point, which I suspect may be of relevance to other Members, is that when there are projects that bring national benefit, local communities should be directly compensated for the impact on them.

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

The emergency closure of the A432 motorway overbridge has had a massive impact on the local road network in my constituency. It is a good example of how national infrastructure projects can have damaging impacts on local residents and businesses. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need investment in national infrastructure so that we do not get these damaging, multi-year closures, which have such an impact on local people?

[Calum Miller]

I agree with my hon. Friend, who makes her point extremely well. Too often, the decision-making process on national strategic infrastructure projects takes decisions away from local communities, and local people feel that things are done to them rather than with them.

Improving Public Transport

Claire Young Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glastonbury and Somerton (Sarah Dyke) for securing this debate. Our public transport services have been run down for years because of the previous Conservative Government, and many rural communities across my Thornbury and Yate constituency have seen their vital bus services disappear. To rub salt into the wound, we have seen money spent on gimmicks that are aimed at delivering headlines rather than saving the services we rely on.

My constituents were looking forward to the new Government offering them hope, but one of their first actions was to hike the bus fare cap, which is so vital in rural areas, where journeys are long and fractured, and the Government have committed to the cap only for the next year. I welcome the announcement of more funding for services that are subsidised by combined and local authorities, but for it to be effective, it must be targeted at restoring our rural services, rather than being funnelled into already well served urban areas. In the west of England, funding has been prioritised for urban areas such as Bristol, where increasing the frequency of services boosts the number of passenger journeys more. As long as the focus is purely on passenger journey numbers, rather than ensuring that everyone has a basic minimum service that enables access to work, education and health services, our rural areas will miss out.

One of the half-baked solutions to the reduction in mainstream, regularly scheduled services has been to roll out an on-demand bus service called WESTlink. Although on-demand services can work, WESTlink is being used locally to do far more than any on-demand service can reasonably be expected to do, and the delivery of the service has been poor. Bad experiences have led to people losing confidence in it, because no one wants to be stranded and to have to pay a fortune for a taxi. People have told me that they have booked the service to get from A to B, only to find that they are the only passenger on board.

The situation is even more ridiculous when we consider that some WESTlink services are filling the gap left by the axing of bus routes that children and teenagers used to get to school or college. Parents repeatedly have to call up to book what should be a consistent daily service to get young people to and from their place of learning. It is simply a waste of time and resources to manage the service in this way. To quote one parent,

“I know there is a WESTlink available to book every day, but with the WESTlink only able to have a small number of passengers—and it is never on time or takes us somewhere completely different before taking us to school—it’s leaving parents with the fear of being fined.”

I have tried in vain to raise this issue with the West of England combined authority, both in my time in this place and in my previous role as the leader of South Gloucestershire council, but each time we are met with the same answer: “There’s no funding.” That shows the core weakness of the system. Routes that are commercially sustainable are run by bus companies, which absorb the profits, and the less-used but equally important rural routes are left in the hands of local authorities. Local government has had its funding cut to the bone during more than a decade of Conservative rule in Westminster, and it simply cannot magic up extra money to keep the buses running.

When I raised the issue of using funding to provide minimum service levels for rural areas in the House a few weeks ago, the then Transport Secretary, the right hon. Member for Sheffield Heeley (Louise Haigh), agreed with me; I hope that the Minister will echo that agreement today. I also hope that the Minister will agree that regardless of whether new franchising powers are taken up—my hon. Friend the Member for Glastonbury and Somerton has highlighted the difficulties—local councillors should be involved in decision making. As a councillor for many years, I know how valuable their local knowledge can be in avoiding disastrous route and timetable changes that make sense to those sitting in the bus operator’s office. The Yate and District Transport Forum in my area is a good example of local representatives working with operators, but all too often councillors find out about changes at the same time as residents, when it is too late to intervene.

I agree with the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) about the need to understand that whatever boundary one chooses for transport services, some people will want to cross it—and in the case of the 84/85, it is a significant number of people. I have had similar messages about people’s inability to get to jobs, the impact on people travelling to Katharine Lady Berkeley’s school, and so forth. It is important that the Minister provides clarity on the issue of cross-boundary services.

I will finish by briefly touching on railways. We are lucky enough to have some local lines and rail services in my area, but there is no joined-up approach to ensure that people living in villages like Hawkesbury Upton who take a bus to the railway station in Yate will get there in time to catch the next scheduled train. This lack of an ecosystem holds us back. Our services operate disjointedly, which is why people simply do not feel that they can rely on public transport to get around. In addition, we need to increase the number of rail services. I have been pushing for the reopening of stations at Charfield and Coalpit Heath as a new solution for people travelling to the growing number of jobs at Severnside, and have been pushing for the Government to guarantee funding to keep half-hourly trains running through Yate.

All in all, we need a clear and connected plan to improve our public transport network in order to fix the rot that has set in after years of Conservative cuts and neglect, and to ensure that everyone has a regular service that they can depend upon.

--- Later in debate ---

[Simon Lightwood]

Absolutely, of course. We need to ensure that we have effective, efficient and affordable public transport in every single corner of the country.

In September, we took the first step in empowering local leaders by introducing a statutory instrument to expand franchising powers beyond mayoral combined authorities to all local transport authorities. We also consulted on new guidance for local leaders looking to bring services into public control. This new, simplified guidance will help to break down barriers to local control of bus services, speeding up the process and bringing down costs. Of course, the buses Bill will empower local leaders by giving them the tools that they need to address local public transport challenges, including by making further changes to simplify bus franchising and by creating locally owned bus companies. We have already seen examples of the improvements that local leaders can make to services. To take my favourite example, the Bee Network in Manchester is on course to complete the re-regulation of buses in its new network in the new year. It will become the first city region outside London to put buses fully back under public control after four decades of deregulation. This new bus network franchise has seen increases in both patronage and punctuality.

We are backing up those reforms with new funding for buses next year. In the Budget, the Government confirmed that there would be more than £1 billion to help local transport authorities and operators to deliver high-quality, reliable public services. That includes £150 million to deliver the new £3 fare cap, which will ensure that passengers have access to affordable fares and better opportunities; £712 million for local authorities to continue to support and improve their bus services; and £243 million for the bus service operators grant. That is given directly to bus operators to support and protect existing services. That funding is the next stop on our journey towards improving services. Every region in England will benefit. The money will make a real difference for people across the country, and could be used to fund more frequent services, so that people can get to more places more often; safer, better and more accessible bus stops; new electric buses; or better real-time information, so that passengers can be confident that their bus will turn up.

Of course, it is not just bus passengers who want their services to run on time. On railways, we have been clear that services have been failing passengers. Performance is inconsistent across the country, and in many areas, the service is not where it needs to be. Improving performance is a key priority, and we will continue to challenge the worst-performing train operating companies and their Network Rail counterparts to address poor performance and raise standards. Just as with buses, we have been making progress. We have resolved long-running industrial disputes over pay, ending the massive disruption and financial impact of national strikes and resetting industrial relations. That paves the way for more collaboration with the trade unions, and the delivery of a railway that works for everyone.

As well as continuing to fund the operation of the railway, we are committed to investing to deliver improvements for passengers. We are simplifying and modernising the rail fare and ticketing system, and have already made great progress. We have driven forward pay-as-you-go in the south-east through the delivery of Project Oval phase 1A. In 2025 we will see further phases of Project Oval go live, which will include Stansted. We have also have completed a detailed design of pay-as-you-go schemes in the west midlands, and Greater Manchester plans to launch digital pay-as-you-go trials in 2025. We continue to progress long-distance fare reforms, with trials on London North Eastern Railway.

Looking forward, we have committed ourselves to undertaking a fare review, which is to be completed over 2025, and we will also continue to invest in infrastructure. Just last week, the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which received Royal Assent on 28 November, enabled us to bring passenger service operations back into public ownership, starting with South Western Railway’s services in May 2025, c2c’s in July and Greater Anglia’s in the autumn.

[Claire Young]

You mentioned infrastructure—

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

The Minister! The Minister!

[Claire Young]

What did I say? [Hon. Members: “You said ‘you’”.] Did I? Sorry! The Minister mentioned infrastructure. We have seen significant delays on the line from the west country in the last few weeks owing to flooding. In particular, trains are having to divert between Bristol Parkway and Swindon and having to go via Bath and Chippenham. Local residents fear that the work to try to stop flooding on that length of the line, which is very prone to flooding, may have led to their houses being flooded. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the infrastructure issues on that section of the railway?

[Simon Lightwood]

I will make sure that I pass that request to the Minister with responsibility for rail, who I am sure will be pleased to meet you.

Within this Parliament, all passenger service operations will have completed the transition to being managed by Great British Railways, which we will establish as the directing mind for the railway by introducing further legislation during this Session. Great British Railways will ensure the highest standards of customer service and operational performance, and will simplify the railways, bringing together the delivery of passenger services, infrastructure, and responsibility for planning and the use of the network. It will bring an end to years of fragmentation and waste. However, we are not waiting for this further legislation. We have already brought key parts of the rail industry together as Shadow Great British Railways, which is working to improve services, unblock barriers to delivery, and move the rail network towards greater financial sustainability.

Although we must and will improve the railways in the short term, we must also think about the long term. We are committed to setting out a long-term rail strategy that will provide a framework for the industry over the next 30 years. We will work with stakeholders to ensure that the strategy maximises the benefits of rail for everyone, because improvements have to benefit everyone who uses our public transport system. This Government want everyone to have access to public transport, and are committed to supporting improvements to services so that they are more inclusive and enable everyone to travel safely, confidently and with dignity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Young Excerpts

Thursday 21st November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for recognising the appalling state of our local roads, and the appalling backlog that we inherited. The significant uplift allocated for next year will start to turn the page on 14 years of decline, but of course that cannot be achieved overnight.

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

11. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of bus services in rural areas.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)]

Fourteen years of decline in local bus services under the previous Administration has hit communities across the country hard, especially in rural areas. This Government know that buses are a lifeline, and through our upcoming buses Bill, we will give all local leaders the powers that they need to design networks that meet the needs of their communities, including measures to ensure that vital services for passengers remain running.

[Claire Young]

Many of my Thornbury and Yate constituents have been impacted by the loss of the 84/85 bus. I am told that funding is made more difficult because that bus is a cross-border service between Gloucestershire and the west of England. Does the Minister agree that the rules need clarifying, so that they do not get in the way of ensuring that we keep important bus services running?

[Lilian Greenwood]

I absolutely recognise the concern that arises when vital bus services are lost, which the hon. Lady mentioned. That is why, in the forthcoming buses Bill, we will explore a local network management measure that will give local transport authorities the power to ensure that cuts to local networks are made only when absolutely necessary, thus protecting people like her constituents, who relied on that vital bus service.

Bus Funding

Claire Young Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Many of my rural constituents have commented that the level of the bus cap is irrelevant when there are no buses to use, so I welcome the extra funding today, but does the Secretary of State agree that it should be directed to ensuring a minimum level of service for all users rather than increasing the frequency of services in urban areas that are already well served, as has happened previously in the west of England?

[Louise Haigh]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. The biggest barrier to people getting the bus is the absence of a bus in lots of communities, and that is why we have directed this significant level of funding into communities to ensure that it is invested in local bus services. The benefit of moving to franchising means that we avoid adding more and more operators and more and more services to commercially viable routes, and that we can design a network that means that more areas and communities are served by the timetables and levels of service that they deserve. This is exactly what she addresses, and it will allow a minimum level of service that every area can expect.

Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill

Claire Young Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity to make my maiden speech. May I congratulate you on your recent election? I also congratulate all those who have made maiden speeches today, particularly the hon. Member for High Peak (Jon Pearce), who spoke so passionately about the beauty of his constituency and the childhood experiences that he brings to this House.

I am honoured to have been elected by the people of Thornbury and Yate to be their voice and champion here in Parliament. Ours is a beautiful and hugely varied rural constituency, with the towns of Thornbury, Yate and Chipping Sodbury and many villages, stretching from Hill, Falfield and Charfield in the north to Bridge Yate, Siston and Wick in the south. To the east is the Cotswold escarpment, part of a designated national landscape. To the west is the Severn estuary, a Ramsar wetland of international importance and formerly home to the Aust ferry, made famous by Bob Dylan.

There is much worth visiting locally, from historic attractions such as Dyrham Park and Acton Court, to the more modern. Bristol Zoo Project carries out important international conservation work, while not far away—I hesitate to mention this, when my leader, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) might be listening—there is an artificial inland surfing lake called the Wave.

There is a real history of innovation locally, although sadly my own parish of Frampton Cotterell’s claim to the invention of the Stetson hat appears to be little more than an urban legend. However, we can be proud that the pioneer of vaccination, Edward Jenner, started his medical training in Chipping Sodbury. Nowadays, many of my constituents work in cutting-edge industries in our region, such as aerospace. With a background in maths and software engineering, I take a keen interest in seeing those industries flourish, and I want to ensure that our young people can benefit from the opportunities they bring.

My constituency is of course more than its landscape and history; it is the people who live there and their fantastic community spirit. I saw that in my own village during the pandemic, when hundreds of volunteers rallied to help others. Whether it is the big lunch in Chipping Sodbury, the Yate Ageing Better festival, Thornbury carnival or any myriad other events and groups, they all contribute to making the constituency a wonderful place to live.

I thank my predecessor Luke Hall, who served Thornbury and Yate for nine years, during which time he championed neonatal care leave and held posts in the Department for Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. I wish him and his family all the best for the future. I also thank his predecessor, the former Pensions Minister Sir Steve Webb, who has been a great source of wisdom for me and is fondly remembered by many constituents. He set a very high bar for all his successors, and I will do my best to meet it. While I am thanking people, I put on record my gratitude to Councillor Maggie Tyrrell, who has recently succeeded me as the leader of South Gloucestershire council. I know that the council is in safe hands as I bring that experience to this place.

I am grateful for the opportunity to make this speech in this important debate, because if we are to tackle the climate crisis and cut congestion on our roads, we must get rail services back on track to give people genuine alternatives to get around effectively. There are currently three railway stations in my constituency. Yate station was reopened in the 1980s, and we desperately need the proposed redevelopment. I will also be seeking to ensure that the funding for half-hourly services is extended beyond the current end date of 2026. That will benefit not only Yate, but provide an hourly train for the new station planned at Charfield.

The station at Pilning is a parliamentary station, with just one train running a week to avoid formally closing it. Its location, near the growing industrial location of Severnside, means that if properly reopened, it is prime placed to help the many workers who travel from south Wales to make the trip without a car. The third station is Severn Beach. Once a seaside resort, the line now serves commuters. However, commuters can be left disappointed by flooding on the line, as well as the fact that the service is not more frequent. Rail campaigners are also keen to see other stations reopened, such as Coalpit Heath and Thornbury, but for that to be possible, we need national investment in Westerleigh junction to increase capacity and unlock this potential. I hope that the Secretary of State will commit to making that part of the integrated infrastructure review that was referenced earlier.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) said, ultimately passengers are not interested in who runs the trains; they simply want them to run on time and for the tickets to be affordable. Given the continued squeeze on people’s finances, we need an immediate freeze on rail fares and our fragmented ticketing system needs simplifying to cut costs for commuters. We also need to think about integration with other forms of public transport. In my constituency, we have seen serious cuts to local bus services, with many villages left with no regular buses at all. My aim in this place will be to champion the rights of people to have affordable and green methods of transport, whether they live in rural or urban areas.

In conclusion, I promise to work tirelessly for my constituents, not only on fixing our railways, but on other issues too, such as the fact that our schools are among the lowest funded in the country and that it is almost impossible to register with an NHS dentist locally. I look forward to working constructively with right hon. and hon. Members across the House to address these problems and ensure that the people of Thornbury and Yate get the fair deal they deserve.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Gurinder Josan to make his maiden speech.