Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin Vickers and Norman Baker

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Norman Baker]

I am always interested in winding journeys from Sussex to elsewhere in the country, so I look forward to being in Lincolnshire again. Wind farms are not a matter for the Department for Transport, as my hon. Friend knows, but I am sure that his comments have been noted, as you would put it, Mr Speaker.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I welcome the Minister’s announcement about the A160 and the Immingham bypass. However, many people travelling through Lincolnshire, when they reach the end of the A15, which my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr Leigh) wants to be dualled, will be heading for the county’s premier resort of Cleethorpes, and in order to do so they will travel along the A180, with its original concrete surface. Will Ministers do all they can to ensure that that road is improved in the near future?

[Norman Baker]

I agree it is important to have quieter surfaces where it is sensible to introduce them. The Highways Agency has a policy of replacing concrete surfaces with quieter surfaces, as and when infrastructure needs to be replaced. I encourage local councils to follow a similar policy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin Vickers and Norman Baker

Thursday 23rd June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Norman Baker]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern, of course, but the fact of the matter is that the Humber Bridge Board applied for an increase. I decided unilaterally to have a public inquiry, where people’s representations could be heard. The inspector came back with a clear recommendation in support of the board’s application for an increase, and there is no reason for Ministers to take a contrary view. What I would say, however, is that there has been no increase in the toll since 2006.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

Notwithstanding the decision of the Humber Bridge Board this week to implement the recommended increase from 1 October—just six or seven weeks before we anticipate the review being completed—does the Minister agree that, irrespective of the outcome regarding the tolls, the governance of the bridge clearly needs revising so that residents and the local community have a clear spokesman? At the moment, councillors are almost forbidden from taking part.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin Vickers and Norman Baker

Thursday 28th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I welcome the reply of the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) in connection with the delay to the A160 upgrade on the access road into Immingham docks. The Under-Secretary will be aware that the delay puts increasing pressure on the town of Immingham, and that the A18/A180 link road was given the amber light on Tuesday. Will he agree to meet me and the local authority to discuss how we can bring the work forward?

[Norman Baker]

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s legitimate point about that connection, and I am happy to meet him—perhaps it might be helpful if that happened at the same time as the other meeting that I agreed to earlier.