Transport

Debate between Martin Wrigley and Heidi Alexander

Monday 23rd February 2026 Written Corrections

[Heidi Alexander]

…I can also assure him that in the past I have been supportive, from the Department for Transport, of the open access application from Wrexham, Shropshire and the west midlands, and I will maintain my support for the proposals going forward.

Topical Questions

The following extract is from Transport oral questions on 12 February 2026.

[Martin Wrigley]

Roadworks in my constituency are causing traffic hell, and residents have had enough. With the two-year closure of the A382 for much-needed work, utilities companies are taking advantage by doing roadworks everywhere, and the county council is powerless to cause them to co-operate and co-ordinate. What does the Secretary of State suggest I say to my residents, whom I am meeting this evening?

[Heidi Alexander]

The hon. Member may wish to tell his residents about the Government’s determination to tackle these issues. For example, we have doubled the fines that local authorities can charge utility companies when works overrun. I recognise how disruptive these works are for local communities, and it is an issue that the Government take very seriously.

[Official Report, 12 February 2026; Vol. 780, c. 918.]

Written correction submitted by the Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon. Member for Swindon South (Heidi Alexander):

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin Wrigley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 12th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I am happy to arrange that meeting. Like my hon. Friend, I want Sunderland station to be at the heart of a vibrant community, and I pay tribute to him for his campaigning on the issue. I do expect Northern to work closely with him, businesses and the local community to further improve the station, and I look forward to that meeting taking place with the Rail Minister to discuss what more we can do.

[Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)]

T4.  Roadworks in my constituency are causing traffic hell, and residents have had enough. With the two-year closure of the A382 for much-needed work, utilities companies are taking advantage by doing roadworks everywhere, and the county council is powerless to cause them to co-operate and co-ordinate. What does the Secretary of State suggest I say to my residents, whom I am meeting this evening?

[Heidi Alexander]

The hon. Member may wish to tell his residents about the Government’s determination to tackle these issues. For example, we have doubled the fines that local authorities can charge utility companies when works overrun. I recognise how disruptive these works are for local communities, and it is an issue that the Government take very seriously.

Road and Rail Projects

Debate between Martin Wrigley and Heidi Alexander

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I am really pleased to be able to announce today the green light for the Middlewich bypass. I know that that new 2.5 km of single carriageway bypass to the east of Middlewich will make a big difference to my hon. Friend’s constituency, unlocking swifter, easier journeys and more routes to employment and opportunities for his constituents for which he so powerfully advocates.

[Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for greenlighting the work on the A382 into Newton Abbot. That will be a massive improvement when it is completed. May I congratulate the successful teams at Teignbridge and at Devon county council, who have been working on the project for some while? However, I am disappointed to hear that Dawlish is not on the list and will be put back. Indeed, although I am pleased that the Government will be continuing to fund the monitoring of the cliffs, may I draw it to the Secretary of State’s attention that it was a single catastrophic shift, rather than a gradual increase of the situation, that caused the collapse of the cliff at Dawlish that shut the railway for eight weeks, causing approximately £1.2 billion of damage to the south-west economy?

[Heidi Alexander]

As I said in response to the hon. Member for Torbay (Steve Darling), we have already heavily invested in securing the cliffs and making the coastline more resilient in Dawlish. We are keeping that final phase of work under review, and it will be possible to determine the next course of action only once that further cliff monitoring and drainage works have taken place. None the less, I can assure him that we will keep it within the pipeline of schemes that we are considering for future investment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Martin Wrigley and Heidi Alexander

Thursday 26th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[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.

HS2 Reset

Debate between Martin Wrigley and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 18th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I will be saying more about the safeguarded land and the directions that apply to it in due course.

[Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for the actions that she has taken today. They were clearly necessary, and it sounds like we are on a better track. However, HS2 provides little or nothing for rail users in the south-west, other than ongoing delays during the construction and operation of Old Oak Common. Will the Secretary of State consider funding, or prioritising the funding for, the critical final phase of the Dawlish rail resilience work that will help businesses and rail users in Devon and Cornwall—and perhaps even in Swindon?

[Heidi Alexander]

The hon. Gentleman tempts me to talk about the Dawlish scheme. I must admit that it is a topic I will need to take up with the Rail Minister, and I will be happy to give the hon. Gentleman a response in writing in respect of the merits of the scheme.