Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jesse Norman and Jane Hunt

Thursday 13th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jane Hunt (Loughborough) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to decarbonise transport infrastructure.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Jesse Norman)]

All transport infrastructure projects delivered by the Department’s arm’s length bodies are required to undertake whole-life carbon assessments and set carbon reduction targets as part of their business cases. National Highways, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail have already set out ambitious plans for achieving net zero and we are supporting them in their delivery. Through the Live Labs 2 competition, we awarded £30 million of funding to seven new regional projects to boost innovation in decarbonising highways infrastructure.

[Jane Hunt]

I recently visited Polypipe in my constituency, which designs, develops and manufactures thermoplastic piping systems from recycled material for civil and infrastructure projects. I understand that the Government and National Highways tend to favour the use of concrete to make ducting for cables over plastic for the road network, despite it being weaker, less resilient and worse for the environment. Could more consideration be given to using recycled materials, such as the plastic manufactured by Polypipe, in the construction of road infrastructure projects to help to achieve our net zero goals?

[Jesse Norman]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and it is very interesting to hear about the work of Polypipe. She will be aware that those decisions are for National Highways as an arm’s length body, but she has put that point on the record in Hansard, and I would be very happy to put the question to National Highways so that it is specifically considered in detail.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jesse Norman and Jane Hunt

Thursday 20th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Jesse Norman)]

The Government are spending £3 billion on this area over the current spending period. Active Travel England is making an enormous difference to the quality of schemes throughout England. Significant amounts of money are going in through the levelling-up fund and through City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements and other schemes, so we believe that we are on track to meet our targets.

[Jane Hunt (Loughborough) (Con)]

T6. Barrow and Sileby train stations in my constituency are currently in need of vital improvements to make them more accessible to passengers. Can the Minister please provide me with an update on when the Access for All scheme will reopen for applications and whether there are any other pots of funding available for accessibility improvements in the meantime?