Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee on establishing a crime and policing working group to help tackle disability hate crime on public transport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers and officials regularly seek advice from the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee on the issues which most affect disabled people when travelling, including disability hate crime. The Department is committed to ensuring everyone, including disabled people, are and feel safe when using the transport network. We have an ambitious, evidence-based programme of work to improve personal safety on transport, working across government and with partners including the British Transport Police. We have just launched a new survey to determine the prevalence of crime and anti-social behaviour on the network which will help us to better understand the scale of the problem, who is affected and when and where these incidents take place. This will enable us to better target policy and activities to tackle these issues and make the transport network safer for everyone.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to promote active travel.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport and Active Travel England (ATE) are working with local authorities to boost walking, wheeling and cycling across England. On 12 February, the Government announced almost £300 million of funding to boost walking, wheeling and cycling with £222.5 million awarded to local authorities across England.
ATE also funds a range of wider projects to enable more active travel, including Bikeability cycle training, Walk to School Outreach and Bike Bike Revival activities. ATE also provides funding to Sustrans to maintain and upgrade the National Cycle Network.
In addition to funding, ATE provides training for local authority staff to enable the delivery of high-quality walking and cycling schemes, as well as design workshops and design assurance reviews of schemes under development.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to promote active travel in new housing developments.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) is an executive agency of the Department and a statutory planning consultee for new housing developments comprising at least 150 homes or 5 hectares in site size. In discharging this function, ATE makes recommendations to improve infrastructure and measures that will support active travel journeys.
Where there are no locally set standards for cycle parking, ATE’s planning team recommends that the standards in Table 11-1 of LTN 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design are applied to new dwellings. This seeks the provision of one secure and ideally covered cycle storage space per bedroom.
Criterion 9 of ATE’s planning application assessment toolkit – which helps to gather evidence and assess the active travel merits of new developments – promotes the provision of high-quality facilities including showers, lockers, changing rooms and drying areas for cyclists in non-residential settings.
It is for the relevant local planning authority’s enforcement team to address instances where a developer does not comply with active travel provisions secured through a planning application.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government about design standards in new dwellings to allow for sufficient securely enclosed cycle storage to accommodate at least one bike per head.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) is an executive agency of the Department and a statutory planning consultee for new housing developments comprising at least 150 homes or 5 hectares in site size. In discharging this function, ATE makes recommendations to improve infrastructure and measures that will support active travel journeys.
Where there are no locally set standards for cycle parking, ATE’s planning team recommends that the standards in Table 11-1 of LTN 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design are applied to new dwellings. This seeks the provision of one secure and ideally covered cycle storage space per bedroom.
Criterion 9 of ATE’s planning application assessment toolkit – which helps to gather evidence and assess the active travel merits of new developments – promotes the provision of high-quality facilities including showers, lockers, changing rooms and drying areas for cyclists in non-residential settings.
It is for the relevant local planning authority’s enforcement team to address instances where a developer does not comply with active travel provisions secured through a planning application.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Committees and Local Government on requiring all new community buildings to have storage space for outdoor clothing and equipment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) is an executive agency of the Department and a statutory planning consultee for new housing developments comprising at least 150 homes or 5 hectares in site size. In discharging this function, ATE makes recommendations to improve infrastructure and measures that will support active travel journeys.
Where there are no locally set standards for cycle parking, ATE’s planning team recommends that the standards in Table 11-1 of LTN 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design are applied to new dwellings. This seeks the provision of one secure and ideally covered cycle storage space per bedroom.
Criterion 9 of ATE’s planning application assessment toolkit – which helps to gather evidence and assess the active travel merits of new developments – promotes the provision of high-quality facilities including showers, lockers, changing rooms and drying areas for cyclists in non-residential settings.
It is for the relevant local planning authority’s enforcement team to address instances where a developer does not comply with active travel provisions secured through a planning application.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure compliance with active travel provisions agreed by developers during the planning process.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) is an executive agency of the Department and a statutory planning consultee for new housing developments comprising at least 150 homes or 5 hectares in site size. In discharging this function, ATE makes recommendations to improve infrastructure and measures that will support active travel journeys.
Where there are no locally set standards for cycle parking, ATE’s planning team recommends that the standards in Table 11-1 of LTN 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design are applied to new dwellings. This seeks the provision of one secure and ideally covered cycle storage space per bedroom.
Criterion 9 of ATE’s planning application assessment toolkit – which helps to gather evidence and assess the active travel merits of new developments – promotes the provision of high-quality facilities including showers, lockers, changing rooms and drying areas for cyclists in non-residential settings.
It is for the relevant local planning authority’s enforcement team to address instances where a developer does not comply with active travel provisions secured through a planning application.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring local authorities to (a) provide (i) active travel routes, (ii) all-weather surfaces and (iii) appropriate signage and (b) regularly clear encroaching vegetation.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the merits of enabling local authorities to deliver and maintain high-quality, well-signed active travel routes to support its economic growth, health and net zero missions. Active travel can help to revitalise high streets, enable people to live longer, healthier lives and reduce transport emissions. In line with the Government’s devolution agenda decisions on the design, delivery and maintenance of active travel routes are best made at the local level by local authorities in consultation with local communities.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to remove time limits on disabled persons concessionary bus passes to improve access to (a) education, (b) work and (c) other opportunities.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as extending the travel time criteria, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability. The Government recently conducted a review of the ENCTS, which included considering travel times for disabled passholders and is currently considering next steps.
Currently, local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as extending the travel time criteria for the ENCTS.
The government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Herefordshire Council has been allocated £3.2 million of this funding. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish. This could include extending the discretionary concessions available in the local area.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what additional funding she plans to provide to local authorities in rural areas to improve road safety.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have awarded local authorities £185.8 million of funding between 2017 and 2024 through the Safer Roads Fund to improve the safety of England's most high risk 'A' roads. To date, it has funded 445.3 miles of rural roads which make up 62.4% of all funded routes.
We acknowledge there is more that can be done; therefore, my Government is developing a road safety strategy, the first in over ten years, and we will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she plans to take to improve road safety in North Herefordshire constituency in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local authorities often use Integrated Transport Block funding for road safety improvements: the Department hopes to announce ITB allocations for 2025/26 for Herefordshire and other authorities shortly. This will allow Herefordshire County Council to decide how best to use the available funding: the Department does not get involved in local authority decision making of this sort.
On highways maintenance, all local authority allocations for highway maintenance block capital funding in 2025/26, including for Herefordshire County Council, were announced by the Secretary of State for Transport on 20 December 2024 and are published on gov.uk. Herefordshire County Council will be receiving an uplift of over £6.1 million compared to the current financial year, taking its total funding for the year to nearly £23 million.