Oral Answers to Questions

Flick Drummond Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Esther McVey (Tatton) (Con)]

11. What progress his Department has made on assessing the effectiveness of noise cameras since the completion of initial research into their use.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

17. What steps he is taking to tackle the use of loud engines and exhausts.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Robert Courts)]

Following encouraging initial research, further trials of the latest noise camera technologies have been announced to assess their effectiveness, and Members House are encouraged to submit applications for a trial in their local area.

[Robert Courts]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for her interest in the scheme and for highlighting the nuisance of noisy vehicles in her constituency. We will be carefully reviewing all the applications received, and we will choose four sites that represent a wide range of urban and rural environments across England and Wales. We will then consider the results of those trials.

[Mrs Drummond]

Villages in Meon Valley, including those along the A32, are blighted by noise from illegally modified motorcycle exhausts, so I am pleased the Minister has explained that the noise camera trial will move forward. Will Meon Valley be included in the trial to put an end to this unacceptable blight on communities in my constituency?

[Robert Courts]

My hon. Friend is right to raise the blight on her constituents, and I entirely understand why she does so. The noise camera trials will demonstrate whether the technology can be an effective enforcement tool that enables the police and local authorities to tackle the excessively noisy and illegally modified vehicles to which she refers. I know she will work with her local authority to apply for a trial in the best way possible.