Rail Investment

Debate between Justine Greening and Rob Wilson

Monday 16th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman raised the question with me only last week in a meeting that I had with him on High Speed 2. As I said to him then, there are some challenges in doing as he suggests, but one of the most important aspects of the High Speed 2 business case is to ensure that as many communities as possible are connected up with it, and that we do that as soon as possible. I have no doubt that we will continue to look at whether those options are available to us and we can progress them. In the meantime the great news for him is that we will see High Speed coming up to his part of the country and it will hugely benefit his community when it gets there.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

May I thank my right hon. Friend and the Chancellor for backing the campaign that I led for western access to Heathrow, which will connect Reading directly to the nation’s hub airport? Does she agree that the £500 million investment offers the opportunity for further private sector involvement and investment to ease pressure on the taxpayer and also on ticket prices?

[Justine Greening]

I think that it does. In the Department for Transport we are keen to look at how we can more efficiently and effectively leverage in private sector investment. We were able to do that recently on the local authorities’ major road schemes and we should look to do it also on rail schemes where we can. Interestingly, on the £500 million project that we are taking ahead for that western rail access to Heathrow, more than 90% of the benefits will go directly to businesses, so it is a real catalyst for growth in the Thames valley area.

M5 Motorway Accident

Debate between Justine Greening and Rob Wilson

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I have considered that. In fact, I was in discussion with the AA over the weekend to hear its views on HGVs and the speed limit. It has supported variable limits. However, it made another point too. Organisations such as the AA think that drivers can take decisions for themselves about the right speed to drive at, and that is something that we should be trying to build upon. It is important that drivers take responsibility for driving in a way appropriate for the road conditions.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

In the context of getting to the truth of what happened in this dreadful accident, will my right hon. Friend tell us whether CCTV or traffic cameras were in operation along that stretch of the M5? If so, are they being used as part of the inquiry?

[Justine Greening]

When I went to the Highways Agency yesterday I saw some of the monitors on which the footage from those CCTV cameras can be viewed. People are viewing that footage, but the main challenge is that it was dark, which means that the information in the images is less than was hoped for. None the less, that footage will definitely be looked at to see whether it can provide any information that can feed into the inquiry.