Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Maynard)]

My hon. Friend rightly identifies that we need to improve the service on the Great Western main line, particularly to Cardiff, Swansea and beyond. We are looking at all the options for how we can deliver passenger benefits. A re-franchising process will commence shortly and I look forward to hearing all the ideas that hon. Members on both sides of the House have.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

T5. The Davies commission was explicit that when the third runway for Heathrow is constructed the Lakeside Energy from Waste plant will need to be replaced, yet the Minister’s national policy statement on Heathrow simply says that its impact on the waste stream will require assessment. As it will be difficult to find an appropriate place in that area to situate that important facility for getting rid of landfill, will he change the national policy statement to make sure that the commitment to replace that plant is maintained?

[Chris Grayling]

I am well aware of this issue, and of course this is a consultation on a draft national policy statement. The ultimate decisions about that plant will be a matter for both its owners and Heathrow airport, and both will have to be satisfied that they are putting appropriate arrangements in place in order for things to go ahead. I take the right hon. Lady’s comments today as a representation to that consultation.

Great Western Line: Electrification

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2016 Westminster Hall

[Charlotte Leslie]

If Hansard could kindly ascribe my hon. Friend’s comments to me I would be very grateful, because that is exactly the point I want to make. Yes, it does seem strange. It plays to a historical view that the south-west is always overlooked. I do not understand why we seem to have been axed when other places still seem to be a political priority. On the economic arguments, that does not make sense.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

It is not just the south-west that has been axed from the great western line electrification. I had hoped to be able to contribute to the earlier debate about air quality around Heathrow. One thing that will damage air quality around the airport is the fact that the Windsor-Slough link will remain a diesel one—it will not be electrified, as was originally promised. People like me supported the original proposal for the third runway at Heathrow because we were promised that electrification.

[Charlotte Leslie]

I start my speech by saying that what happens in one area of the country affects another and then I go on to make an unapologetically biased—not biased, but strong—case for the south-west, but I hear exactly what the right hon. Lady says. Something happening in one region deeply affects another, but I continue to make a special case for the south-west, which has not, historically, had its merits duly considered by the Department.

Great Western Railway Routes

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Foster]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that park and ride can play a huge part in giving rural communities in particular access to rail services via parkway-style stations. Looking at north-west Devon and north Cornwall, it might be an interesting project in years to come to provide parkway stations near the A30 as it comes into Devon, using the spur that heads towards Okehampton. That could provide a service to the area without competing with the Great Western main line in south Devon.

We must ask what investment can deliver. It is estimated that even a relatively modest improvement of 15 minutes in journey times between the south-west peninsula and London would deliver £300 million in increased productivity. However, this debate is not just about economics; it is about communities along the line and their needs for travel and growth.

I will not look to play our region off against another. Just as investment in Crossrail and new rail capacity in other parts of the UK will deliver for those communities over the next 10 to 15 years, delivering on the issues we are discussing can deliver for ours. It is worth bearing in mind the fact that investment in the Great Western railway supports other key projects across the UK. For example, the expansion of Heathrow as the UK’s hub will be supported by the western rail access. I hope the Minister sees the urgency of that.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Gentleman share my profound disappointment over the delays in the western rail access to Heathrow, which the Hendy review announced would be put back a further two years? This access will bring the biggest inward investment to the UK, as well as helping travellers from all over the west of England—

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

And Wales.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

Indeed, and Wales. It will help those travellers to get to Heathrow—our premier hub airport. Will the hon. Gentleman press the Minister to ensure that, as a result of this debate, someone in her Department puts their foot on the accelerator of western rail access to Heathrow?

--- Later in debate ---

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

I am sorry that I had to miss parts of the debate, but I was rehearsing with the Parliament choir. I was trying very hard to be in two places at once and, as usual, failed.

I really welcome this debate. I know, because I have heard reports about the speeches that have already been made, that the focus of the debate has not included the commuter service provided on the Great Western railway. I urge the Minister to respond to the issues relating to the passengers who commute on those routes. If we look at passengers in excess of capacity on a typical autumn week day by operator, we will see that Great Western Railway exceeds all other companies, not because of the long-distance services that we have heard about, but because of the chronically overcrowded commuting services provided on the railway. On an average day, there are something like 1,000 people in excess of capacity in the three most overcrowded trains on the rail line, and 30% of the 10 most overcrowded trains are on the Great Western main line. There is a serious problem. Too often, I have been in one of those trains, with my nose pressed into the armpit of someone whose name I do not know. I find that offensive. We have standards for carrying animals on lorries, but we do not have standards for carrying humans on trains. The Great Western commuter rail service is, on many occasions, quite disgusting for passengers, and we have to do more than adapt a few carriages that were used to feed people—we have given that up—by putting in a few more seats. We need to do more to provide sufficient stock for the commuter service to serve the people who depend on it.

The Thames valley is the most productive region of our country. It makes more profit per worker than any other part of Britain. We need to make sure that those people can get about. My constituency—I often say this in the House, and I am sure Members are bored of hearing it—has more European headquarters of multinational companies than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put together, because Slough is really easy to get to. It is really easy to get from Slough to Heathrow, to London, to the west country, or up the A40 to Birmingham, or along the M3 and around the M25. It is a well-connected town, which is why we are successful in drawing investment into Britain. I am not competing with other towns in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland particularly; Slough tends to compete with cities in Europe.

When I talk to companies about the issues that impact on their profitability, they say that they want to be confident that Heathrow has a secure future and they want to reach it more easily. The best way to do so is by rail. I persuaded the previous head of the Berkshire local enterprise partnership to do some research, over 10 years ago, on what companies in the Thames valley spent on taxis to Heathrow. The figure was £10 million a year. If that money was spent not on taxis going to Heathrow on the excessively congested M4 but on a train service to Heathrow, those companies would have a more reliable journey that did not depend on what was happening around junction 5, 6 or 7. They would not face overcrowding on the M4. We are going to get smart motorways, but with hard-shoulder running, if there is an accident, it takes longer to get round it. At the moment, they have serious problems using that route properly.

I have a feeling about how the Department for Transport works. It can do only one thing at a time. It looks down a little tunnel, saying, “This is my project.” Its project at the moment on my bit of the railway is creating a train park for the Heathrow express, which I would rather not have. The Minister has been helpful on some of these issues, but the failure to put a foot on the accelerator of western rail access to Heathrow is truly foolish, given the impact not just on this bit of railway but on the national economy. If the project had as much energy behind it as other rail projects it would attract significant inward investment. We are failing to attract that investment and are failing to create the jobs that would inevitably follow better connectivity for Heathrow because no one is pushing this forward.

I was concerned that we would not get the project done by 2018, which was the first chimera of western rail access to Heathrow, but then it was pushed back to 2020. Now it looks as though it might be done by 2023 or 2024. I suspect that the project will probably not be completed until we have the additional runway, but we need it before then.

I urge the Minister to set someone—one of her nice tunnel-vision civil servants—to focus their tunnel vision on Western rail access to Heathrow. I promise that companies in this country are desperate for it and they will back it. Perhaps she needs a bit of private investment. I had a meeting some years ago with officials in her Department and one of them said, “We’re spending blah million”—I cannot remember how many—“per month on the airport.” I looked around at the company representatives who had come with me, whose companies were spending that much per month on their own development.

The time has come to ensure Western rail access to Heathrow. It does not need complicated consultations because most of it is on the existing rail line and the rest of it is in a tunnel, so there is nothing to delay the project. This Minister, whom I admire, would forever be in my glory books if she would make sure that somebody put the accelerator under this project. At present, her Department is failing and letting down the Thames valley and the whole of the south-eastern economy as a consequence.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Vauxhall Bus Station

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

I have a home just the other side of Vauxhall bus station from Westminster. Twelve years ago, when it was being built, there was a big hole in the road, and people who lived at the other end of Wandsworth road were unable to escape south London. If TfL is to knock the bus station down, I fear that again people across south-west and southern London will be cut off from the centre of London for months.

[Kate Hoey]

I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention. That is another important reason why the whole scheme is so ridiculous.

Vauxhall is the second busiest interchange in London, after Victoria. It is used by 2,000 buses per day. Nearly one in four of London’s buses use the station. It serves 14 bus routes, 11 of which are daytime routes. Three routes offer a 24-hour service. The three night routes are used frequently by many of the LGBT community who visit the clubs in that area. Every day, 712 Victoria line tube trains and 739 mainline trains go through Vauxhall. It really is a hub. Forty-five thousand commuters go through it each day. The largest group by far are bus users, who include the most vulnerable—the old, disabled people, parents with young children—all of whom make disproportionate use of buses because of the ease of access and frequent stops. Many change from bus to bus at Vauxhall. Others change from the tube or the train. Getting the bus interchange right is crucial to keeping traffic moving across a wide area of central and south London.

So where does the proposal to demolish the bus station come from? It did not originate from TfL. It was first made public in Lambeth Council’s draft supplementary planning document way back in 2012. That talked about looking at replacing the bus station with

“a series of relocated bus stops.”

In November 2013, in the local plan, the council stated that it wanted to work

“towards the removal of the gyratory. At the outset this will involve remodelling the bus station so that the canopy is removed and bus stops and stands are relocated to allow for the introduction of the high street”.

That intention was repeated in presentations time after time. In 2014, there were initial consultations. Now, finally, TfL is consulting on a scheme that looks at getting rid of the gyratory. However, it claims that to do that the bus station must be removed. Artists’ impressions, but no detailed designs, of the plans for the bus station show a series of bus stops around two or more high-density, multi-storey commercial developments.

Interestingly, the Secretary of State’s inspector, reporting on the Lambeth local plan submission in 2015, concluded that it should be reworded so that it stated that removal of the gyratory “may” be necessary, not “will” be necessary. Although we understand that Lambeth has accepted the inspector’s changes, that has not been published on the website. Lambeth is obviously trying to disregard that change of emphasis.

A majority of people, including local residents, agree that replacing the one-way roads—the gyratory—at Vauxhall is desirable. But that does not mean they want the bus station to go. They have never been asked whether they want it to go. A local community group, Our Vauxhall, which includes local architects and traffic engineers as well as residents, has produced an ambitious plan for the area which goes much further than the one put forward by Lambeth and TfL. Its plan has been enthusiastically backed by local residents, including at well-attended public meetings that heard repeated demands to keep the bus station.

TfL obviously wants to rubbish Our Vauxhall’s plan. TfL put all sorts of wrong things on the website about it. It has tried to pretend that it has modelled the scheme. We know it has not. It has stated that it would not work, without giving any reasons. It has just done what it assumes it can get away with—that is, say what it wants to say and people will have to go along with it.

On 19 December, TfL published a statement about the scheme claiming to have done a comprehensive review. That contained some blatantly false and misleading statements that are now subject to a formal complaint. We have raised the matter with the Transport Commissioner and Leon Daniels. I am confident that in a straight competition Our Vauxhall’s plans would outperform TfL’s on a range of measures, including overall road safety and total distance travelled. They would also be much cheaper and quicker to implement and would avoid some of the issues that my right hon. Friend raised.

So what does TfL or Lambeth get out of abolishing the bus station? The proposal seems to be linked to the huge developments at Nine Elms and plans for the Northern line extension to Battersea and Nine Elms. Lambeth used the opportunity of the Northern line extension to negotiate a deal with TfL which culminated in an agreement about Vauxhall’s redevelopment in November 2013. Lots of discussions have been going on about that.

TfL is a landowner in the area. The consultation does not include any new commercial development over and above what is needed to support the transport interchange. If any further development is proposed in the future, it would be subject to planning permission. That is what TfL says. Londoners, including local residents, are being asked to accept a pig in a poke—“Agree to the plans to demolish the bus station and then we’ll show you what our plans involve.” TfL wants to get rid of this fine facility just to free up the land for some unspecified private development.

What do bus passengers get out of Transport for London’s plan? What is being proposed is not a new bus station. That is perhaps the most shocking part of the whole exercise. There will be bus stops on pavements in four separate locations. Half the buses will stop at the side of heavily used main roads—Wandsworth Road and Kennington Lane. There is to be a huge high-rise development between some of those stops and the others near Bondway. Changing buses will be less straightforward, especially for those with mobility problems. There will be less space to wait in. Passengers will be waiting on crowded roadside pavements which will be less safe, more polluted and with less shelter, even in the planned new central area. The present canopy is very good because it extends over the roadside as well as the waiting area, so passengers do not get wet as they get on to the bus.

There is a feeling of safety in that station. Yes, we could make it greener and make other improvements, but it certainly does not need to be knocked down. The most important aspect is that Lambeth and TfL have not played fair in their consultation. At no stage has the option of retaining the bus station in its current form been put to residents or anyone else. Indeed, in January 2014 a motion to include an option to retain the status quo was explicitly rejected in an amendment moved by the leader of the council.

The community’s solution for Vauxhall shows that it is possible to retain the existing bus station structure by modifying certain entrances and exits and to get rid of the gyratory system. If the current plans for Vauxhall go ahead, the Minister must know that the second busiest bus station in London will be turned into a building site for several years, with a reduction in bus services and unacceptable disruption for all passengers. The consultation period on the plans began in December and is due to end on 17 January. We have repeatedly asked for that to be extended because it covered the Christmas holiday period and was deliberately set up to confuse people. Arranging meetings was very difficult. There is some sharp practice here, I believe.

On the maps that have been produced, interestingly, all the symbols denoting the bus stops have been placed as far apart as possible on the maps of the existing area, and as close together as possible on the proposed plan. The maps do not show accurately what will be there and how bad it will be. TfL has sent out emails to those on its Oyster card database, but that database does not include freedom pass holders, pensioners and the elderly, who we know are heavy users of the station.

At the recent public meeting people were very angry with TfL because they felt they were being—I know that I cannot use the expression “lied to”, but whatever the equivalent parliamentary term is, they felt that.

Airports Capacity

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I could also cite quotes from Willie Walsh which would put a question mark over the Heathrow proposals. If we are getting into the game of quoting Willie Walsh, we will find many that could be cited on this subject. The correct thing for the Government to do is to look at all three options in light of the environmental work and the mitigation circumstances that we would like to see, and then return to the House once we have decided with which option we will go forward.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has let himself down in the way he has responded to questions, making it an issue of party ping-pong and who is responsible for what delay. Let us be absolutely clear. I welcome his remarks about air quality, which is very important for Heathrow. However, he has heard me speak about the fact that there are more European headquarters of multinational companies in Slough than in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put together. What research has he done on how few such companies will remain in the UK—anywhere in the UK—as a result of the ongoing delays in making this decision?

Airports Commission: Final Report

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I must apologise to colleagues for being unable to be present for the entire debate, although I was able to listen to some of the earlier contributions, such as the excellent one by the right hon. Member for Chelmsford (Sir Simon Burns).

The hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) suggested that opposition to Heathrow comes from people who are next door to it. I represent a constituency that is closer to Heathrow than that of most of those who have objected to it. Indeed, if the Davies commission proposals are implemented, the runways will come into Slough borough. Yet my constituents and I recognise that the prosperity of Slough absolutely depends on the prosperity of Heathrow.

I speak to companies in Slough about the ways in which they depend on Heathrow. Let us recall that Slough includes within its boundaries more European headquarters of multinational companies than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland put together. There is a reason for that: its proximity to Heathrow. Those companies say to me, “Our international boards are getting a bit worried about whether we stay here and continue to invest in the UK.” That is because, universally, they are worried about the future of Heathrow. My first point is therefore that we must make a decision fast. If we do not have a clear conclusion supporting the Davies commission proposals soon, then inward investment, which is extremely significant and necessary for the UK economy, will be very seriously affected.

The one issue that the Davies commission did not deal with sufficiently well is air quality. There is clearly a problem with air quality around Heathrow, but let us be clear that it is not all created by the airport. The M4-M25 motorway junction is the busiest motorway junction in the whole of Europe, and car emissions are the most significant contribution to the NOx in the air around the airport. In addition, we have an incinerator that adds to the poor air quality there. I hope that as we deal with these proposals we can expect the Government to put in place things that really make a difference to air quality. The most urgent, in my view, is an electrified western rail link to Heathrow. When the Labour Government discussed Heathrow’s third runway, I refused to back it until I got a commitment from the then Minister that we would electrify the Great Western railway line. We also need rail links from the west to Heathrow, because the failure to have those is one of the important reasons, if not the only one, for the very poor air quality around the airport.

Some Members have said that the third runway is undeliverable because there are so many people under the flight path. Let me point out that they are there because of the prosperity generated by the airport. If we were to move the airport elsewhere, the same thing would happen to an alternative location.

Members on both sides of the House recognise that the prosperity of the UK depends on people being able to work and trade, and on successful inward investment. Frankly, the only option on the table that delivers on all those things is Heathrow. When I was first elected MP for Slough, Heathrow was the most competitive airport in Europe, but it is not now. We have lost flights to international destinations because it is so crowded. There is now no direct flight to Ghana from the UK. People are going to Schiphol or Charles de Gaulle airport in order to get to African destinations. Those airports have more flights than Heathrow to Chinese destinations.

Unless we give Heathrow an additional runway, we will not be able to compete. International passengers want to use Heathrow because of the English language, which is an international export of the UK. None of the alternatives will deliver the connectivity and competitiveness of an expanded Heathrow.

Davies Commission Report

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State referred in his statement to surface transport improvements to our airports, but did not refer to western rail access to Heathrow. Is he still committed to that, and does he agree with the Davies commission, which says:

“Further delay will be increasingly costly and will be seen, nationally and internationally, as a sign that the UK is unwilling or unable to take the steps needed to maintain its position as a well-connected open trading economy in the twenty first century”?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I think the right hon. Lady has managed to read the first part of the report, but it goes into a lot more detail on some of the proposals—I fully accept that she has not yet had time to consider all of that, and neither have I. I will say, however, that the connectivity and the connections up to Crossrail will make a huge difference to Heathrow, and the western rail access will be one thing that Sir Peter Hendy, in his new role of chairman of Network Rail, will be looking at.

High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill: Instruction (No. 3)

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

We looked closely at the North Pole depot site, but the Langley site is operationally more effective, and it also means that we would not block any proposal that might come forward for the Great Western line to connect with Crossrail at terminal 5.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain what he means by “operationally more effective”, because to any normal person it would seem odd that it is “operationally more effective” to have a depot that is not even on the route between Heathrow and Paddington?

[Mr Goodwill]

In these matters we are advised by Network Rail, which informs us that the practicality of operating these depots is such that the Langley site is the best one on which to locate this depot.

--- Later in debate ---

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

Unlike the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant), I do not welcome the order.

I have to say thank you to the Minister, who has been very courteous in informing me of what is coming up. That is in quite a degree of contrast to the HS2 project team, which has not kept Slough Borough Council fully aware of what is being proposed, and it has come as a bit of a shock to the council. As a place, Slough is very supportive of big transport infrastructure projects. Heathrow airport’s third runway will come into the borough of Slough, if it happens, yet we are backing it because we realise that these kinds of projects are essential to national economic growth. However, Slough has not been kept fully informed of what has happened, and therefore, I echo the concerns of the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan) about the consultation period on these areas happening in July and August. Although the Minister is right to say that not everybody goes on holiday in July and August, that is when most of my constituents with children do. Because Slough thought that HS2 was to do with other parts of the world and had nothing to do with Slough—none of the original proposals involved anything to do with Slough—it will not be geared up for petitioning, whereas communities on the route of HS2 were geared up by newspaper stories and so on. That is a real issue.

The other issue is that paragraph 1(b) of the proposal has nothing to do with HS2; it is about the Heathrow Express. It turns out that the Heathrow Express terminal is to be moved. I wonder why. I hate to speculate, but is it possibly because, owing to the land values at Old Oak Common, the land can be flogged off for expensive housing? Those land values are rather bigger than land values in Langley, where that will not be possible. It strikes me that a possible reason for our suddenly finding that we need to move the Heathrow Express terminal is that we can make more money out of what happens in Old Oak Common. I do not know that, and if the Minister would like to intervene and assure me that that is not true, that would be nice.

[Mr Goodwill]

I point out to the right hon. Lady that I talked about operational problems, and one of the problems with the North Pole East depot is that it would require train movements across the Great Western main line. Maintenance works on the Great Western towards Paddington would also mean that the Heathrow Express depot at North Pole East would not be able to operate.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

That is what the Minister is told, but at least that depot is somewhere on the Heathrow Express route. The proposed depot is not on that route; it is actually to the west of the Heathrow Express route. I point out that the Heathrow Express franchise expires in 2023, so this is not necessarily a long-term need. I am deeply concerned about the western link into Heathrow, which is critical, and I am grateful to the Department for the way it has proceeded on that. It is obvious to me that at some point the western rail link into Heathrow and the Heathrow Express will become a merged franchise. There is land at Reading where the depot could be situated at that point.

I am worried that this is a short-term solution that has been invented because someone faced a problem with the Heathrow Express. In the motion, we are being asked to solve a short-term problem, which I accept exists, in a way that is not long-term and strategic. The Department could say, “This franchise expires in 2023 and, until then, Heathrow has a monopoly on it, but if Heathrow wants its third runway”—we do not know what the Davies commission will say—“perhaps there should be a price. Perhaps the price should be giving up the franchise and looking at how we can integrate it more intelligently into the rest of the rail network.” That would be a strategic way of dealing with this matter and it would help us to accelerate western rail access into Heathrow.

In the Minister’s courteous letters to me today, he wrote:

“The relocation of the Heathrow Express depot is both an opportunity for Slough and important part of the Phase One project”.

I do not think that it is an opportunity for Slough, because the jobs that come with it are just ones that are being moved down the line from Old Oak Common, where they are at the moment, to Langley. I tell him that that does not mean more jobs for my constituents; it means that people will commute from where they currently live to Langley.

[Mr Goodwill]

Some of the land that is required for construction will be returned once the depot is complete, so that land will not be lost altogether in respect of job creation in the right hon. Lady’s area.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

Actually, most of the land that the depot will be on is housing land. I represent the most overcrowded borough in the country, outside London, in terms of housing. In fact, it is more overcrowded than most London boroughs. There is a real need for housing in Slough. I am told by the council that this land has been identified as being able to provide 200 to 300 homes for local people. It will not be available for those homes when it has been used.

The construction of the depot will have an impact on air quality in an area that is already affected by a big incinerator, Heathrow and the biggest motorway junction in Europe, which will affect my constituents. As the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve) pointed out, these plans will frustrate other issues, such as HGV links and western rail access to Heathrow.

I know that there will be petitions from Slough, but I also know that there will not be as many petitions from Slough as there have been from other communities on the route, because it came as a big surprise to the people of Slough about a week ago that this was happening to them. They can only intervene over the next few weeks—a very short space of time—when some of them will be dealing with their children’s end-of-term plays and planning to go on holiday. I predict that my constituents will be panicked about this and that, although they welcome major transport infrastructure projects because they know that we need them to create prosperity for Britain, they will think that they have been badly treated in this process. I have to say, I believe that they are right.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Goodwill]

Absolutely, and I think I have already given that assurance about land being released as soon as possible. If necessary, I will have a meeting with the right hon. Gentleman, with officials, so that we can get some assurances that, I hope, will satisfy him.

I commend the motion to the House. The hybrid Bill process is working for people.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

In response to the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), the Minister said that this scheme is fitting in with western rail access. As I understand it, however, the Hollow Hill Lane bridge was to have been raised in order to improve the problems with HGVs, which the right hon. and learned Gentleman discussed. As an alternative is being proposed, those issues will not be dealt with by this scheme unless it is changed. Can the Minister answer on that point?

[Mr Goodwill]

I would certainly be happy to meet those concerned to get my head around precisely how we could improve the scheme to address those concerns. It is not an issue I am absolutely on top of, and I apologise for that—

Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

In welcoming my hon. Friend to the House, I assure him that mitigating the aviation industry’s effect on the environment has been and remains a key factor of aviation strategy. We need to strike a fair balance in our policy between the negative environmental impacts of aviation and the positive economic and consumer benefits that the industry provides.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

When does the Secretary of State expect to receive the Davies report on south-east airports, and how soon thereafter does he intend to make a decision on the future of airports in the south-east?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I expect to receive the Davies report shortly. I will not anticipate at this stage when a decision will be taken. When the report is received, I will make a statement to the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Mactaggart Excerpts

Thursday 6th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I well understand the points my hon. Friend makes. I know that Northern Rail has been working on how best to deliver those services, including the provision for rolling stock. A small number of diesel trains from within the current northern fleet may become available for use on this service from December 2014 when the electric trains are due to start operating on some services between Liverpool and Manchester, but I know and understand my hon. Friend’s desire to get a service up and running sooner. I will personally look into what can be made available.

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

New rolling stock will be required on the very welcome new line planned from the Great Western main line into Heathrow, which was announced today. Will the Minister take action to speed up the delivery of that line? If we wait until 2021 to deliver that line, some of the businesses in the Thames valley which have been hanging on for western access to Heathrow might leave the country. Can he do more to speed it up?

[Mr McLoughlin]

We are investing record amounts in the rail industry. I will certainly look into the point the hon. Lady makes, but it is one of many demands as far as rail services are concerned.