Transport (CSR)

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 25th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs Ellman) on securing the debate. It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak. Some of the decisions that affect transport infrastructure are particularly important to my constituency.

Cleethorpes is, as hon. Members will appreciate, the premier resort of the east coast. However, they should also be aware that it takes in the major ports and industrial complexes of Immingham, and the area along the south Humber bank up to Barton-upon-Humber, where the Humber bridge crosses the estuary. I shall return later to the subject of the bridge, and the problems caused by heavy tolls.

First, I welcome the Government’s approach within the comprehensive spending review. Despite the difficulties, they have recognised the vital role of transport in allowing business to flourish and bringing growth and employment throughout the country. Public transport of course plays a vital role in the city regions by connecting local people to jobs and other opportunities, including health care and leisure. It ensures that business has access to as wide a labour market as possible. The depth of labour is a critical competitive advantage in the city regions and it is essential to maximise the level of investment and, hence, employment in the economy in the years ahead.

Although investment in transport infrastructure takes a long time to implement, starting now on schemes that will be completed in a few years will not only create much-needed employment at a time of recession in the engineering and construction centres; it will mean that new and improved opportunities are available as the economy improves. Improving the quality, scope and performance of local transport systems is critical to supporting recovery and growth, since competitiveness, and especially the labour market, depend on them. To ensure that city regions retain their cohesiveness and underpinning opportunities, it is vital that we boost the connectivity between the secondary centres. I welcome the Government’s increased attention to more effective transit-oriented development, which links spatial, economic and transport strategies. Research has shown that better co-ordination and integration of transport networks can have a sustained impact on economic performance.

Despite a CSR that has been, on the whole, much better, as other hon. Members have said, than was perhaps anticipated, there have been some disappointments in my constituency, particularly over delays to the A160 upgrade and the A18-A180 link road. The A160 upgrade is the link between the M180 and Immingham docks. It has long been a national priority to improve access to our major ports. Measured by tonnage the Immingham-Grimsby dock complex is the largest in the UK. The Humber bank is an established centre for energy refining and chemicals and is ideally placed to become a hub for the renewable energy sector following the granting of planning permission for the south Humber gateway project, which will provide about 4,500 jobs in the first five years and the prospect of many more in the following decade. Access via the A160 has, as I mentioned, been delayed.

My hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) and I met senior executives from the developers, Able UK, only yesterday. They remain optimistic, and reassured us that there will be no delays in their plans, but they would like reassurance from the Government that if their development proceeds ahead of schedule consideration can be given to rescheduling the A160 upgrade. I appreciate that the Minister may not be able to give an assurance on that today, but I want to flag it up as one of the points that will be raised when a delegation meets one of her colleagues in a couple of weeks.

I welcome the increased investment in the Yorkshire and Humber region, although it still falls behind that in many other regions. There is general acceptance, however one calculates the figures, that spending in our region has, measured on a per capita basis, been well below that in other regions. That is even more true for those of us on the periphery of our region. The Lincolnshire part of the Yorkshire and Humber region has every justification to think that it has not been well served by various Departments and agencies. Only yesterday, my constituent Steve Ashton drew my attention to the Government publication “Transport and the Economy” which gave the 2008 figures as £248 per head of population for Yorkshire and Humber, compared with £259 in the west midlands and £287 in the north-west. Needless to say, there were very much larger figures for London and the south-east.

Not only is my constituency located at the edge of the region; it is also on the boundary between the east midlands and the Yorkshire and Humber region. Both regions have suffered over the years from reduced spending. We would benefit from the upgrading of the A46 from Lincoln through to Cleethorpes, and the extremely dangerous A15 between Lincoln and Scunthorpe. I accept that that is not an immediate prospect, but I want to flag it up for the future because it is vital for the tourism and industrial sectors.

I welcome the answer that the Secretary of State gave yesterday to the Select Committee on Transport, when he said that the Department had made a significant contribution to the regional growth fund and mentioned his hope that transport projects will benefit from the fund. That is clearly a possible funding stream for the very modest £8 million A18-A180 link road that would increase access to Immingham docks, and relieve congestion, giving much relief to Immingham residents.

To turn to the subject of rail services, earlier this week my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole and I met executives from Alliance Rail, which is an open access provider looking to introduce four direct services per day from Cleethorpes, via Scunthorpe, to King’s Cross. That is extremely helpful. Many of the established franchise operators tend to want to increase capacity by just increasing the number of services on existing well-served routes, whereas the open access providers, as has been demonstrated by Hull Trains, Grand Central and so on meet areas such as mine, on the coast, which are not on the direct services.

Finally, perhaps I may remind the Minister, as I said I would, about the problem of Humber bridge tolls. She visited the area about this time last year, and the Treasury-led review that she promised then has now come to pass. I plead with her to do all that she can to ensure that a sustainable result comes from the review. We have had years of tinkering, which has helped at the edges, but we urgently need the job opportunities that will open up to local people without that barrier between them.

I welcome the Government’s decision taken in the CSR, which has proved to be much better than we hoped. It would be much appreciated if the Minister would consider those of us on the periphery.