Stations: Step-free Access

Debate between Helen Morgan and Paul Kohler
Tuesday 18th March 2025

(2 weeks, 2 days ago)

Westminster Hall
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Paul Kohler Portrait Mr Kohler
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I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. We absolutely need a commitment from the Government. That is what we are looking for today. Now where was I up to?

Helen Morgan Portrait Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
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Will my hon. Friend give way?

Paul Kohler Portrait Mr Kohler
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Yes—that might be useful, while I look for my place.

Helen Morgan Portrait Helen Morgan
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for allowing my intervention and for making such a great speech. Many stations, such as Whitchurch station in north Shropshire, are well advanced through the Access for All scheme, but funding has been pulled at the last minute. Does he agree that there is a really good pipeline of work ready to go and ready to be built, and it would be great if the Government could reopen the scheme and get on with those that are ready to go?

Paul Kohler Portrait Mr Kohler
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My hon. Friend is absolutely correct— I had got to exactly that point in my speech. Despite the successes, the Access for All scheme has failed to deliver on its potential, but hon. Members need not take my word for it. In May 2024, the current Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, then chair of Network Rail, said Access for All had “significantly underperformed” over the previous five years, having stalled under the previous Government. Of the 149 schemes due to be completed in that period, only 77 were—and, in what seems to be a first for a Government infrastructure project, there was an underspend of £99 million.