Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on the establishment of new Home Zones.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Home Zones are residential areas with streets designed for very low vehicle speeds which better suit the needs of pedestrians and cyclists. The aim is to change the way streets are used in order to improve quality of life by reducing the dominance of motor traffic. Local authorities are free to install them using powers under the Transport Act 2000 without reference to the Department.
The Home Zones Challenge Fund, set up in April 2001 to encourage the development of home zones in England, funded 59 schemes across 56 authorities. These are listed in the table below. The Department does not hold information on how many other Home Zones are in place, or where they are located, as local authorities do not have to inform the Department when they install them.
Authority | Scheme location |
Luton | Haymarket Green |
Norfolk | Cavell Road, Norwich |
Peterborough | New England |
Suffolk | Cambridge Road, Lowestoft |
Darlington | Pateley Moor Crescent |
Gateshead | Tyne Park |
Middlesbrough | Gresham Area |
North Tyneside | The Triangle |
Northumberland | Cowpen Quay, Blyth |
South Tyneside | Cleadon Park |
Blackpool | Talbot and Brunswick |
Bolton | Oldham’s Estate |
Bury | Aston Estate |
Cheshire | Egerton Street Area, Chester |
Lancashire | Poulton Area, Morecambe |
South West Area, Burnley | |
Liverpool | Grafton Street |
Manchester | Northmoor Phase 2 |
Rochdale | Wardleworth |
St Helens | Bidston Avenue |
Tameside | Ashton West End |
Trafford | Addiston Crescent |
Warrington | Whitecross |
Wigan | Browning Street |
Wirral | Dundonald & Methuen Streets |
East Sussex | Town Farm Estate, Hailsham |
Hampshire | Castle Grove, Porchester |
Kent | Northcourt Estate, Denton |
Oxfordshire | Saxton Road, Abingdon |
Reading | Kingsbridge Road |
Southampton | Radcliffe Road |
Surrey | Nutley Lane, Reigate |
West Sussex | North West Bognor Regis |
Bath & North East Somerset | Albert Avenue, Peasedown St John |
Bristol | Southville |
Cornwall | North Close Estate, Redruth |
Devon | Wonford Estate, Exeter |
Plymouth | Morice Town |
Wiltshire | College Community Area, Trowbridge |
Westleigh Area, Warminster | |
Birmingham | Pitts farm, Erdington |
Staffordshire | Silkmore, Stafford Wilmot Drive, Newcastle under Lyme |
Telford and Wrekin | West Woodside |
Wolverhampton | Fordhouses |
Worcestershire | Duke of Edinburgh Way, Malvern |
Derby | Normanton |
Nottingham | Kennington Road Area |
Kingston upon Hull | Albany Street |
Kirklees | Moorside Estate |
Leeds | Littlemoor |
North Lincolnshire | Crosby/Frodingham, Scunthorpe |
Bromley | Rookery Gardens, St Mary Cray |
Camden | Lupton Street |
Greenwich | Deptford Green |
Haringey | Linden Road |
Kingston upon Thames | Cavendish Road |
Newham | Cranberry Estate |
Southwark | Sutherland Square |
The Department has not made any recent assessment of Home Zones. The design of streets in their care is a matter for local authorities. In recent years there has been a significant step change in attitudes to street design, with the focus increasingly on creating streets that function as places and communities. Home Zones are one tool that can help achieve these aims. We promote this approach more generally through design guidance such as the Manual for Streets.
Although the Government provides maintenance funding to local authorities, the Department provides no specific funding for the maintenance of Home Zones. Local authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. It is for each individual authority to assess which parts of its network are in need of repair and what standards should be applied, based on their local knowledge and circumstances.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many registered car owners there were in Stafford constituency in each year since 2005.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) records registered keepers of vehicles rather than owners. The number of cars registered since 2005 in the Stafford constituency is not available. However, a snapshot of the DVLA’s vehicle register in February 2016 shows that there were 114,837 vehicles registered to an address in the Stafford constituency.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to improve the rail network and services between London and Stafford.
Answered by Claire Perry
As part of the Rail Investment Strategy, Network Rail has delivered a package of major infrastructure improvements in the Stafford area. This includes the grade separation of Norton Bridge junction – which was been brought into use almost 12 months early this May – and has created additional capacity for services on the West Coast Main Line.
Rail services between Stafford and London are currently provided by the West Midlands and InterCity West Coast franchises. These franchises are due be replaced when they expire in October 2017 and April 2018 respectively. The Department has completed a consultation in respect of the replacement West Midlands franchise, and commenced another in respect of InterCity West Coast earlier this month. The outcomes of those consultations will be published in due course.
Looking to the future, HS2 will deliver high-speed services between London and Stafford from 2026.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to assist local authorities with the maintenance of rural roads.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport is providing local highway authorities in England, outside London, with over £6.1 billion for highways maintenance between 2015 and 2021. This includes an additional £250 million for a Pothole Action Fund. It is for highway authorities to determine how this funding is utilised based on their needs and priorities and can include maintenance of rural roads.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many traffic surveys and counts his Department has conducted in Stafford constituency since 2010.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport (DfT) has conducted the following numbers of manual traffic counts within the area covered by Stafford constituency in each year since 2010.
2010 9 counts
2011 9 counts
2012 10 counts
2013 11 counts
2014 5 counts
2015 5 counts
These counts are carried out for the purpose of producing DfT’s statistics on traffic. They are conducted by observing traffic at designated locations and consequently have no impact on the traffic flows.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he will issue the draft environmental statement on Phase 2 of High Speed Two (Fradley to Crewe).
Answered by Robert Goodwill
HS2 Ltd is already undertaking environmental surveys, meeting communities and carrying out ground investigation works on the planned line of route as part of its preparation for a Phase 2a hybrid Bill.
This early investigation and engagement will inform a draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, which we expect to publish for consultation in autumn 2016. The draft report will show the potential environmental impacts of the scheme and indicative steps to mitigate them.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what arrangements are being made for public consultation on the draft environmental statement for Phase Two of High Speed 2 (Fradley to Crewe).
Answered by Robert Goodwill
HS2 Ltd is already undertaking environmental surveys, meeting communities and carrying out ground investigation works on the planned line of route as part of its preparation for a Phase 2a hybrid Bill.
This early investigation and engagement will inform a draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, which we expect to publish for consultation in autumn 2016. The draft report will show the potential environmental impacts of the scheme and indicative steps to mitigate them.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the passenger compensation regime for train delays and cancellations.
Answered by Claire Perry
In our manifesto we committed to improve compensation for delayed rail passengers. We have already changed the system to get compensation paid in cash, not travel vouchers, and we are putting new compensation obligations like automatic delay/repay into franchise specifications.
We will negotiate hard with rail operators to get even better compensation arrangements for passengers but also focus on what we all want which is to have the trains run on time.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road accidents in the UK involved foreign-registered vehicles in each of the last three years; and what proportion of those accidents led to the closure of a (a) road on the strategic network and (b) local road in each year.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department does not collect information on the country of registration of vehicles involved in reported personal-injury road accidents. Information is held on left hand drive vehicles and the Department uses this as a proxy for foreign registered vehicles.
The table below shows the number of reported personal-injury road traffic accidents involving left-hand drive vehicles in each of the last three years in Great Britain, broken down by severity of accident.
Reported number of accidents involving left hand drive vehicles, by severity, GB: 2012- 2014
Fatal | Serious | Slight | Total | |
2012 | 25 | 109 | 983 | 1,117 |
2013 | 17 | 140 | 994 | 1,151 |
2014 | 19 | 136 | 1,046 | 1,201 |
The Department does not hold information on whether roads are closed following a road traffic accident.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many houses in Stafford constituency have been purchased under the High Speed 2 Exceptional Hardship Scheme since that scheme was launched; and what the average cost is of each such purchase.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
As at end of August 2015, HS2 Ltd has purchased 10 properties on behalf of the Secretary of State in the Stafford Constituency, at an average cost of £404,470 per property.