Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of direct trains from London Paddington to Hereford have been cancelled in the last six months, by (a) day of the week and (b) time of day.
Answered by Huw Merriman
In the last six months, 44 direct trains from London Paddington to Hereford have been cancelled, and 18 part-cancelled usually meaning termination at Worcester or Great Malvern. This equates to proportions of 4.55% on Mondays, 5.68% on Tuesdays, 10.12% on Wednesdays, 11.73% on Thursdays, 14.04% on Fridays, 10.19% on Saturdays and 16.33% on Sundays. The greatest proportion of cancellations by time have been seen during the hours of 0900-1000, 1100-1200 and 1900-2000. I have asked Great Western Railway to write to you directly with the full set of data in due course.
Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, of the cancelled direct train services between London and Hereford in the last six months, what proportion of cancellations were caused by matters relating to (a) Great Western Railway and (b) Network Rail.
Answered by Huw Merriman
In the last six months, 9.94% of Great Western Railway’s (GWR’s) direct London to Hereford services were cancelled. GWR confirm that 38.7% of these cancellations were caused by matters relating to Network Rail, and 3.8% because of other train operators. I have asked GWR to write to you directly with the full set of data in due course.
Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve local bus services in Herefordshire.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has announced £1.2 billion of transformation funding for buses in the Spending Review. We will allocate funding after assessing the Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) which all English Local Transport Authorities outside London, including Herefordshire County Council, are developing in collaboration with their local bus operators.
Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the HS2 budget is for bat protection and mitigation.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
HS2 Ltd does not have a specific bat protection budget. Most environmental and ecological mitigations - such as hedgerow, wetland, woodland or grassland creation - will be deployed to mitigate the impact of construction upon multiple species. As such, it is not possible to isolate a proportion of the cost of these mitigations to specific bat protection.
In some circumstances, obligations to protect specific bat populations can arise from legislative and regulatory arrangements, or from undertakings and assurances given to Parliament through the hybrid Bill process. Where this is the case, HS2 Ltd will seek physical or ecological solutions that fulfil the requirements of those obligations to the satisfaction of licensing authorities such as Natural England, but which also take account of the need to provide value for money to the taxpayer.
Asked by: Jesse Norman (Conservative - Hereford and South Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent to date on bat protection and mitigation.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
HS2 Ltd does not have a specific bat protection budget. Most environmental and ecological mitigations - such as hedgerow, wetland, woodland or grassland creation - will be deployed to mitigate the impact of construction upon multiple species. As such, it is not possible to isolate a proportion of the cost of these mitigations to specific bat protection.
In some circumstances, obligations to protect specific bat populations can arise from legislative and regulatory arrangements, or from undertakings and assurances given to Parliament through the hybrid Bill process. Where this is the case, HS2 Ltd will seek physical or ecological solutions that fulfil the requirements of those obligations to the satisfaction of licensing authorities such as Natural England, but which also take account of the need to provide value for money to the taxpayer.