Oral Answers to Questions

David Johnston Excerpts

Thursday 29th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to improve transport connections in rural areas.

[David Johnston (Wantage) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to improve transport connections in rural areas.

[Robert Largan (High Peak) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to improve transport connections in rural areas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Stephenson]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. We have established the rural mobility fund worth £20 million to trial more demand-responsive services, and we have awarded funding to 17 pilot projects already. We have also published a call for evidence for the future of transport rural strategy that sought views on how rural communities can benefit best from transport innovation.

[David Johnston]

My constituency has lots of the challenges that one would associate with a predominantly rural area, but No. 1 on my list is trying to reopen Grove station, which, in a recent survey, 98% of people supported. We have submitted our bid to the Restoring Your Railway fund. Will my hon. Friend provide an update on when we will hear—hopefully good—news?

[Andrew Stephenson]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his continued advocacy on behalf of his constituency, as I know this is an issue that he has raised repeatedly with Ministers. The Department has received the bid for development funding. Decisions will be made by our expert panel following an initial review carried out by the Department for Transport and Network Rail. We expect to announce outcomes in the summer.