Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the capital funding settlement for road investment strategies on infrastructure investment along the A27.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 11 June 2025, this Government will deliver notable improvements to people’s everyday travel by providing £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve roads across the country. We will provide updates on what this means for specific schemes and routes in due course.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of available driving tests in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
To increase the number of tests available in Chichester, DVSA is deploying additional driving examiner (DE) resource from neighbouring driving test centres.
From recent recruitment campaigns for the area, DVSA has a potential new DE starting training later this month. DVSA has also offered another candidate a training course starting later in the year.
DVSA will continue to recruit in the area and has begun its next recruitment campaign. Once the campaign has closed, DVSA will make offers to successful applicants.
DVSA is committed to providing its customers, including those in rural areas, with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to reduce driving test waiting times in rural areas.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
To increase the number of tests available in Chichester, DVSA is deploying additional driving examiner (DE) resource from neighbouring driving test centres.
From recent recruitment campaigns for the area, DVSA has a potential new DE starting training later this month. DVSA has also offered another candidate a training course starting later in the year.
DVSA will continue to recruit in the area and has begun its next recruitment campaign. Once the campaign has closed, DVSA will make offers to successful applicants.
DVSA is committed to providing its customers, including those in rural areas, with the best service possible. DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to increase the proportion of her Department's spending on active travel infrastructure.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Future funding for active travel, including capital funding for infrastructure, will be set out following the conclusion of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps National Highways are taking to improve road safety at roundabouts on the A27 in Chichester.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The safety of road users is National Highways’ top priority, and the company regularly reviews the safety performance of the strategic road network. Options identified by National Highways as part of the development of proposals within the RIS pipeline would seek to improve the safety performance of the A27, particularly at the junctions to the south of Chichester.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps National Highways are taking to reduce congestion on the A27 through Chichester.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways has developed a number of options to improve the performance of the A27 through Chichester as part of the pipeline of projects being considered for possible delivery in a future Road Investment Strategy, beyond 2031.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to take steps to help improve the (a) reliability and (b) frequency of rail services serving Chichester constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are no current plans to make changes to rail services serving Chichester constituency following on from significant changes earlier in the year.
Following a public consultation, a new West Coastway timetable was put in place from 2 June 2024. This redesigned the timetable for services in the Chichester area and doubled the number of trains towards Worthing and Brighton from two trains per hour to four trains per hour, creating a half-hourly service. This provides faster journey options towards Brighton and better spacing on the Southampton service.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has plans to help deliver railway infrastructure upgrades in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Chancellor has been clear about the state of the nation's finances and has launched a multi-year Spending Review. The Secretary of State has announced her intention to conduct a thorough review of the previous government's transport plans to ensure that our transport infrastructure portfolio drives economic growth and delivers value for money for taxpayers.
No specific infrastructure upgrades are being actively considered in the Chichester constituency at present. Any proposals to government for such upgrades should include the support of West Sussex County Council and Transport for the South East and outline the impacts to growth, employment and housing that the proposal would involve.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding her Department has provided for the repair of potholes in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local highway network. West Sussex County Council is the local highway authority for the Chichester constituency, and it is therefore responsible for the condition of its local network. In the current financial year the Department has provided a little over £19 million of highway maintenance funding to West Sussex County Council.
This Government has a commitment to enable local highway authorities in England to fix up to a million more potholes a year. At Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced an extra £500 million for local highway maintenance for the 2025/26 financial year, an increase of nearly 50% compared to the current financial year exceeding this Government’s manifesto commitment on repairing local roads. The Government will confirm funding allocations to English local highway authorities in due course.