Martin Wrigley
Main Page: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)Department Debates - View all Martin Wrigley's debates with the Department for Transport
(1 day, 17 hours ago)
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Heidi Alexander
I assure my hon. Friend that we are taking this issue very seriously. We are reviewing licensing authorities’ compliance with existing guidance, and we will hold those who do not follow that guidance to account. We will go further following the publication of Baroness Casey’s review, and we have committed to taking legislative action to close the loopholes in the current licensing regime to achieve higher standards of safety across the board.
Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)
The Dawlish sea wall collapsed in 2014, causing a devastating loss to the south-west’s economy of about £1.2 billion. It was not the break in the sea wall that closed the railway for eight weeks; it was the collapse of the cliffs. Will the Minister prioritise the project to secure those cliffs, which is yet to be carried out, or will she meet me? Perhaps she could even visit Dawlish to see how important this fix is going to be.
Lilian Greenwood
I know how important that rail line is to the people of the south-west, including the hon. Member’s constituents. We are working to determine which rail enhancement projects will be taken forward following the Chancellor’s spending review statement on 11 June. More information will be made available shortly, and I am sure that my colleague, the Rail Minister, will write to the hon. Member in due course.