Regional Transport Infrastructure Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Transport
Darren Jones
Main Page: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)Department Debates - View all Darren Jones's debates with the Department for Transport
(5 years, 8 months ago)
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Darren Jones (Bristol North West) (Lab)
The west of England is an area of huge success, with more than 1 million people, 42,000 businesses and a £31 billion economy. We are building 100,000 new homes and expecting 80,000 new jobs, along with new retail and an arena in my constituency. That will involve increased travel demand—we are expecting a 25% increase by 2036, yet two in three journeys are still made by car. We have air quality issues, with 300 premature deaths a year, and congestion costs our economy £300 million a year, yet we have a £6 billion shortfall in investment, as estimated by the west of England joint transport study.
Given the short time that we have to speak today, I invite the Minister to meet me to listen to output from my constituents regarding our north Bristol transport plan, and to deal with the intracity and intercity travel that we are expecting. The success of Bristol means that we are becoming more like London, and we therefore need investment to ensure that our city is not gridlocked. We must target deaths from air pollution, and ensure that people are happy and able to get around and enjoy the city that they love and in which they live.
Joan Ryan (in the Chair)
Paul Sweeney, may I offer you one and a half minutes?