Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Soames of Fletching Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2014 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to relieve congestion on roads.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to relieve congestion on roads.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mr John Hayes)]

The Government have an ambitious strategy for tackling congestion and improving performance on our roads, as I think the whole House would acknowledge. This autumn we will set out our plans for a road investment strategy, with £24 billion to be spent on strategic roads up to 2021. For local roads, £7.4 billion will be spent in the next Parliament, and £1.5 billion funding from the local growth fund will bring forward vital schemes.

[Sir Nicholas Soames]

My right hon. Friend may well have an ambitious strategy, but it does not go as far as Mid Sussex. Is he aware that particularly in the towns of Haywards Heath and East Grinstead there have been frankly intolerable delays owing to works by the utilities? I want him to take a much, much tougher line with the utilities on how they handle traffic management so that they cease destroying the trading opportunities of towns that are trying to make much better of themselves.

[Mr Hayes]

As my right hon. Friend knows, I was in Sussex only last week looking at these very matters. There is no end to my strategic ambitions— geographically or in any other way. He is absolutely right that we need to take a tough line in ensuring that schemes do not have undesirable or unintended consequences. I will certainly look very closely at the circumstances he describes, and he can be absolutely certain of my toughness.