Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I think we are some way away from that. Discussions have to take place between our Government and the European Union on arrangements post-Brexit. They will take place, and we will inform the House of progress on the matter in due course.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

A start has been made in the first road investment strategy on upgrading the A47 from Lowestoft to the A1. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm that he will work with me and other East Anglian colleagues on the second road investment strategy to ensure that this good work continues.

[Mr John Hayes]

My hon. Friend will know that we managed to achieve what he wanted in respect of the bridge in his constituency, but he is right that we need to do more in respect of RIS2. To his customary eloquence and commitment he has added prophetic powers, because just this morning I am writing to all the colleagues he describes inviting them to participate in that process. This will be for the people and shaped by the people’s representatives.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I never comment on rumours, because I have started quite a few of them during my time in this House. I am committed to HS2, which I believe to be very important for this country. We are already seeing the benefits for Birmingham of the investment that is going around.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

Lowestoft railway station, which has the great advantage of being in the centre of the town, has fallen into considerable disrepair in recent years. Lowestoft station partners have some exciting initiatives for bringing it back into full use. Will the Minister meet me and them to explore how best to achieve that?

[Claire Perry]

That would be a pleasure. There are many funding pots, including local growth fund money, that could help to regenerate Lowestoft station.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Thursday 28th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

We have record investment both in our conventional rail network and high-speed rail and in the strategic road network, and we are also working with local enterprise partnerships and local authorities on their own local schemes. That is just the sort of scheme that we need to look at closely.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

A compelling business case for the third crossing in Lowestoft was submitted to the Minister’s Department just before Christmas. I would be grateful if he advised when a bid can be submitted to the local majors fund so that we can get on and build this bridge and ensure it is completed by 2020.

Airport Expansion: East Anglia

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Tuesday 12th January 2016 Westminster Hall

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for underlining my point. There have to be wider connections across the region, and notably with Norwich. Given that it is one of the major cities in the region, it is incredible that the rail link is so insubstantial.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does he agree that improved connectivity through rail can really enable Stansted to be a major engine of growth for the whole East Anglia region, including my constituency, which is the most easterly constituency in the region?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Jackson]

Absolutely. One of my bugbears, which I brought up in Transport questions not that long ago, and which I have been raising for years, is the fact that we tend to be slightly London-centric and think about the Stansted Express and the connectivity between east London and Stansted. The right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) touched on that issue in talking about London City airport. However, we should remember that there is also a need for enhanced connectivity between the midlands and the north of England, via a key subregional transport hub such as Peterborough, bringing jobs, opportunities and tourists and other people to Stansted from the north and the midlands. It is just as important in the context of the wider infrastructure picture, which is that the east of England suffers from relatively poor road and rail infrastructure. We might think of the Liverpool Street to Norwich line and road access to places such as Suffolk—particularly Waveney, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and the very large county of Norfolk.

I have for years pressed for a little strategic thinking about the CrossCountry service from the midlands to Stansted. My constituents want to be kind to the environment. They do not want to get into a car at the crack of dawn to drive down the A14, on to the M11, to reach Stansted. They would much prefer to get a CrossCountry train that began its journey in Birmingham, and to get to Stansted in good time for their flight—perhaps with time for an early breakfast and some shopping there. They could support the local economy of Uttlesford and Essex. However, they cannot do that because the train does not run at the appropriate time. That is something pretty straightforward and simple that goes to the heart of the issue of connectivity.

[Peter Aldous]

The east Anglian region has for a long time been the poor relation with respect to airport connectivity. Does my hon. Friend agree that we can up our game? In the Chamber today there are Members representing constituencies with Stansted, London City, Luton and Cambridge airports—and there is also Norwich. We need a strategy for connecting to those airports and making the best use of the facilities and resources that we already have.

[Mr Jackson]

My hon. Friend makes an important and astute point that speaks to a lack of joined-up thinking on transport infrastructure. We get it right on the smaller, strategic projects. One only has to think of the guided bus that links St Ives in Mid Cambridgeshire to Cambridge. I used that bus to go into Cambridge over Christmas. It is a fantastic facility and, as I understand it, it is now scrubbing its face financially. My hon. Friend the Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Stephen Barclay) is campaigning for a better link between Wisbech and Cambridge, and I thank the Minister because we are having an upgrade of the east coast main line. Some £43 million has been spent on Peterborough railway station, for which we are inordinately grateful. However, do we actually join up all those individual projects across a big area? I suspect that we do not. Airport capacity and connectivity is another issue that we need to look at.

I want to talk briefly about air passenger duty. The elephant in the room is the massive generational decision that will be taken about airport capacity, which will centre on evidence for or against Heathrow. It seems that successive Governments have missed a trick by not availing themselves of the opportunity to use air passenger duty as a way of driving, or at least influencing, demand for the creation of new long-haul services at places such as Stansted, Luton and so on. The Minister will say that that lies within the bailiwick of the Treasury and I accept that, but the debate about air passenger duty needs to continue and we need to look at it again.

To conclude, my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden made an excellent case for the importance of Stansted. My contention is that we need to look at the expansion of Stansted as our regional airport. We need to move away from a London-centric, overly prescriptive focus on what is good for Greater London, which I admit is a world city of 8 million people. This needs to be about rebalancing the economy, and that does not just mean the north-west, Yorkshire and Humberside and the east midlands. It also means creating jobs, new opportunities and transport infrastructure in the east of England. Stansted can be at the heart of that but it must be in a co-ordinated, long-term, sustainable and comprehensive infrastructure plan.

East Anglia Rail Franchise

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Jo Churchill]

I could not agree more. There needs to be that connected thought—that is the important thing—to allow works at the Ely North junction, for example, where there is a real need. That has been the demand by my colleagues in Cambridgeshire, but this issue also affects users in Norfolk and Suffolk. The work has already slipped from period 5 to period 6.

Freeing up capacity is an urgent need across our dynamic growing area, so it was with disappointment that I, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock) and my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich noted that the tender did not highlight a more frequent service between Ipswich and Peterborough or Ipswich and Cambridge. Indeed my right hon. Friend had a meeting with rail users only last week to press that point home.

These critical centres need a more frequent service, as does the science corridor between Norwich and Cambridge, for which my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), who has emailed me because he cannot be here today, has campaigned. That would doubtless give huge economic benefit to the life sciences industry as well as to other businesses.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. She is giving us a great history going around the various branch lines in East Anglia. Does she agree that if investment is made in the east Suffolk line in terms of through-trains to Liverpool Street, faster service and investment in stations, that can play a significant role in bringing economic growth to east Suffolk?

[Jo Churchill]

I could not agree more. The beauty of delivering this tender well is that it can bring benefits across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and benefit all our constituents, who, frankly, do not care whose constituency they are travelling through; they just care about getting where they want to go on time and in a way that is easy to access.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jo Churchill]

I am terribly sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker; you are absolutely right. It is my enthusiasm on securing the debate and having the chance to ask the Minister to listen to my arguments. I hope that, when the bids hit her desk tomorrow, she will take this opportunity to give us what we really want for the next nine years.

[Peter Aldous]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to avoid a repetition of the situation that arose in Lowestoft last Saturday, when people could not even get on the trains? It was a day of high demand, with people going to a premier league football match between Norwich and Everton, and also going shopping in Norwich, but they could not even get on the trains.

[Jo Churchill]

Absolutely. That point would probably also be supported by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk, who has called for special trains to Newmarket on race days. We have a centre of excellence for the racing industry in Newmarket, but it cannot optimise what it could do for the country because we cannot get people there smartly enough.

My constituents do not want to stand on trains; they want to sit. They also want to be connected to wi-fi, and maybe have a cup of coffee, but at the moment they can get neither of those services between leaving home and arriving at their main line station. They want to be able to park at their stations and shelter from the elements until the train arrives. Otherwise, they will opt to use different forms of transport. We are not talking about a third world country here.

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Perry]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, and controlling the franchise levers is the first step in the process. We expect bidders to exceed what we have asked for in the franchise, because we are saying “This is the minimum that we expect”. We will, of course, award the franchise to the bidder that is able to exceed those minimums, including with possible additional services. When the bids come in tomorrow I have no idea what they will contain, but we are confidently expecting those specifications to be exceeded.

As I have said, I am confident that the winning bidder for this franchise will deliver huge, tangible, transformational improvements that are commensurate with the economic weight of the region. We will see route improvements, and we have set out what we expect as a minimum. However, this is not set in stone; this is a starting point. When the franchise starts up next October, there will be every opportunity to change routes, add additional service patterns or new stations—that has happened across the country—improve timetables, and deliver better scheduled services, or even special services such as to Newmarket on race days.

I urge Members to continue to work together, pulling in the excellent provision of help and information from the local enterprise partnership and local businesses, and to help us make the business case for the improvements to infrastructure that the Government will make. We must also work with the operators to encourage them to change their patterns.

We have heard from several hon. Members tonight, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst), who is an assiduous campaigner on this issue, re-emphasised the absolute importance of new rolling stock in this franchise. Crucially, he also mentioned the linkage of rail services to airports. I am lucky not to have airports in my portfolio, or indeed HS2, but the linkage of rail services to airports is vital. He will be pleased to know that already an early morning service has been introduced from Liverpool Street to Stansted, because it turned out that more than 500 people a night were sleeping at the airport because they could not get there early enough. That has now changed, and a new service is running.

[Peter Aldous]

The Minister is setting out her case well. As well as linkage to airports, in such a rural area we also need linkage to public transport and buses.

[Claire Perry]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about integrating the transport system so that it works for people who might take a bus or drive a car, and who need a car parking space before they get on the train. We must assume that transport plays that role.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Sir Simon Burns) made a wonderful speech and referenced the importance of freight, which is a particular boon and issue on these lines. I am very sympathetic to the issue of freight disrupting passenger traffic. We need more freight paths. Freight is strategically important to productivity and air quality. The more freight we can get off the road and on to trains the better. My Department will be undertaking a strategic freight review. I am very pleased that in the spending review we preserved the majority of funding for freight.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

What I told the conference organised by the hon. Gentleman, whom I commend for his decades of work in this area, was that every 30 hours somebody takes their life on the rail network. That is a tragedy both for the families of the victims and for the drivers and staff, for whom it is a deeply distressing experience, and it also affects those whose travel is disrupted. I commend the work the hon. Gentleman’s group is doing and the work that Network Rail is doing with the Samaritans. We want to see those numbers coming down.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

The creation of the local majors fund in the autumn statement is very much to be welcomed. The much needed third crossing in Lowestoft will look to bid into that fund early in the new year. Can my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State confirm that the fund will be up and running as quickly as possible after Christmas?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I most certainly can confirm that the fund will be up and running after Christmas. I remember visiting the site with my hon. Friend on a couple of occasions earlier this year. I think the scheme he mentions is a very strong candidate.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I hope the hon. Gentleman will address the question he has just put to me to Derbyshire County Council, because I have substantially increased the funding available to that council to fix potholes. They have got the money; let them get on with the job.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

T5. I welcome the Secretary of State back to his place. In Lowestoft, we are now getting on with the preparatory work for a third crossing at Lake Lothing. A lot needs to be done in a short time, and I would be grateful if he could confirm that he will continue to work with me and the local community to get the crossing built as quickly as possible.

[Mr McLoughlin]

I have visited the site of the crossing, which my hon. Friend is keen to see completed, on no fewer than two occasions. He is to be congratulated on the scheme, to which the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I have paid considerable attention. I have asked my officials to support Suffolk County Council and the local enterprise partnership in taking forward the scheme, and I understand that a meeting took place in Lowestoft last Friday to maintain the momentum. I am sure that my hon. Friend will keep up the pressure on us.

Lake Lothing: Crossings

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Westminster Hall

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David, and to raise the issue of a third crossing over Lake Lothing in Lowestoft. This is a matter of great importance to those living and working in the Lowestoft area. There has been a need for such a crossing for many years.

Lake Lothing, around which the port of Lowestoft is based, splits the town into two parts. At present there are two crossings: the bascule bridge at the eastern end, close to the town centre and the outer harbour, and a crossing at Mutford lock to the west, at Oulton Broad. The two crossings are inadequate, and congestion frequently builds up, particularly when the bascule bridge opens to allow vessels into and out of the inner harbour. A poor road network has blighted the town for a long time. It is a disincentive to people to go into the town and is preventing businesses from moving there or expanding there.

The challenge of building the third crossing has been considered many times over the years. It is not a straightforward task, although I believe that in the past five years the building blocks have been put in place that will enable the bridge to be built at last. I propose to explain why that is the case and what now needs to be done to take the scheme forward. The bridge will bring benefits not only to north Suffolk but to East Anglia and the United Kingdom, by developing the regional economy.

I am particularly pleased that the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr Goodwill), will be responding to this debate. Last summer, he started his fact-finding drive along the A47 from the centre of Lowestoft. He arrived early on the train. I drove him around Lake Lothing and he saw for himself both the problem of the bridge and the great potential that can be unlocked by building the third crossing.

I want to provide some historical context. There have been two crossings of Lake Lothing, approximately in their current positions, since 1830 when the first swing bridge was installed, linking the town centre to Kirkley and Pakefield. That bridge was replaced in 1897 with another swing bridge, the Jubilee bridge, which lasted until 1969, when it broke down. It was replaced in 1972 with the current bascule bridge. Two bridges over Lake Lothing were adequate while the main transport routes to Lowestoft were by sea and rail, but it was apparent even before world war two, with more reliance on road transport, that there was a need for a third bridge and that its absence was hampering plans to bring new employment opportunities to the town. The problem was compounded by the decision to construct a three-lane bascule bridge, which was illogical when one takes into account that there are four, and now sometimes five, lanes of traffic approaching it.

In the past 35 years, much of Lowestoft’s rich and proud industrial heritage has gone. The fishing industry is a pale shadow of its former self, the canning factory and the coachworks have long since closed, and there has been a move away from traditional home-based tourism. It would be wrong to blame the lack of a third crossing for their demise, but poor infrastructure to and around the town has hampered attempts to attract new businesses to the area.

The problems faced by coastal communities such as Lowestoft, which include inadequate infrastructure, are deep-rooted and will not be addressed in five years. However, since 2010 policies and initiatives have been put in place, and projects have been carried out, that will reverse the decline and enable the necessary road infrastructure to be built that can bring sustained economic growth back to Lowestoft.

First, the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth enterprise zone has been a great success, with 40 new buildings now completed and £19 million of private sector investment secured, including the developments on the Riverside business park, which adjoins Lake Lothing. On his recent visit to Lowestoft, the Prime Minister announced plans for the future expansion of the enterprise zone, which could include land in the surrounding area. To realise the full potential of the enterprise zone and the assisted area designation, good road infrastructure is required, including a third crossing.

Secondly, a major constraint on realising the full economic potential of the Lake Lothing area has been the lack of adequate flood defences. That was all too apparent during the storm surge of 5 December 2013, which hit the area particularly hard. It is vital for businesses investing in their premises that flood defences are in place. Thus it is welcome that funding has been secured for a £25 million flood protection scheme. This major engineering project will be constructed over the next few years, during which time temporary arrangements will be put in place to provide the necessary protection. Addressing that problem means that developments can proceed, which in turn focuses attention on providing better road infrastructure.

Thirdly, Lake Lothing is not the only pinch point in the Lowestoft road network, and work is taking place to sort the others out. The Oulton Broad North level crossing is a major cause of congestion, but a solution to improve the situation has been found. When the railway line to Norwich is re-signalled, the platform will be extended and the signal board repositioned, so that trains can run into the platform while the crossing remains open to traffic. That work should be completed in 2016 and will result in a considerable reduction in the time for which the barriers are down, during which congestion builds up along Bridge road, Normanston drive and Gorleston road.

The long-awaited final phase of the northern spine road, which removes traffic from the Bentley drive area to the north of the town, will be completed in the next few weeks. The scheme is taking place as a result of a £4.63 million pinch point fund grant from the Government. A relief road for Lowestoft has in effect been built in phases over the past 30 years, and the new section of the northern spine road is the penultimate item of work. The final piece in the jigsaw, which will link them all together and join the north of the town to the south, is the third crossing. It is thus right that we now focus our attention on its delivery.

Fourthly, for too long during the past 40 to 45 years we have built roads in a piecemeal, scattergun way, rather than by pursuing a strategic planned approach. That explains why the gestation period for many projects is elephantine and why some schemes are woefully inadequate almost from the day they open, as was the case with the new bascule bridge in 1972.

In the past year there have been encouraging signs that a strategic approach will be pursued in future, as the Government have carried out feasibility studies on six trunk roads as part of their road investment strategy. One of those roads was the A47, which links north Suffolk and Norfolk to the A1 at Peterborough. The A47 is at present of poor quality along much of its 119-mile length, and its unreliability has meant that it has not functioned properly as the gateway to growth that it should have been. In December, the Government announced an initial investment of £300 million for upgrading the A47, to include some dualling, junction improvements and extending the road to Lowestoft. This is good news, but it is not the endgame. It is only the beginning of a campaign for a full dual carriageway link from Lowestoft to the A1. That would enable the road to function properly as a gateway to growth and ensure that the whole area along the length of the road realised its full potential. It would create an estimated additional 17,000 jobs and an increase of £706 million per annum in economic output across the region. The new, upgraded A47 now starts on the south bank of Lake Lothing, which provides the context within which we can now plan for the third crossing.

A start has been made, with Suffolk county council commissioning WSP consulting engineers to provide an overview of options both to the east, close to the bascule bridge, and in the centre of Lake Lothing. The study considered the engineering feasibility, the budget costs and the likely effect on traffic movements of the options, and concluded that bridge crossings both in the centre of Lake Lothing and to the east are technically feasible. From analysis of the report, it is clear that more detailed work is required to produce a robust scheme that everyone can get behind and that can be promoted to secure funding for the bridge’s construction.

There are further issues that need to be addressed. First, there is the bridge’s location. It needs to be in a position that both enables traffic to flow smoothly around the town and enables the port and the businesses located there to realise their full potential and make the most of the exciting job opportunities emerging in the offshore energy sector. When one looks at how the various phases of what is in effect the Lowestoft relief road have been built over the past three decades, one sees that the obvious location for the crossing, to enable traffic to flow smoothly, is at the centre of Lake Lothing. During that time, port operations have changed and vessels have got bigger. If the crossing is to be in that location, it must be a high-level bridge that does not have a negative effect on the potential to bring jobs to Lowestoft and that serves the emerging offshore renewables sector. Lowestoft is well placed to benefit from those opportunities, due to its geographic position close to wind farms, the skills built up in the oil and gas sector over the past 40 years and the town’s growing reputation for expertise in offshore renewables technology.

Secondly, the report identifies further work that needs to be carried out to arrive at the optimum solution. That includes further traffic monitoring, taking into account not only existing traffic flows but changes that are likely to result from the completion of the northern spine road, new housing and new business development; full ground condition surveys and environmental investigations; an assessment of the impact of any scheme on existing buildings, including those that might have to be demolished; and the likely cost of necessary land acquisitions.

Thirdly, the business case for the third crossing needs to be worked up. Lowestoft has three economic assets: the port, the town centre and the south beach. At present, all three fail to realise their full potential due to the dysfunctional road system that serves them. The third crossing can solve that problem, thereby creating hundreds of new jobs. We must demonstrate how that will be achieved.

I am seeking Government support and assistance to take the scheme forward. The necessary background and preparatory work has been carried out, but we now need to move forward on two fronts. First, a full, credible and robust scheme needs to be prepared. The New Anglia local enterprise partnership and Suffolk county council have indicated that they will carry out that work if the Department for Transport confirms that it will give the scheme full and serious consideration and there is a reasonable expectation that funding for the bridge’s construction will be forthcoming. Will the Minister provide that confirmation?

Secondly, the work is detailed and will take some time to complete. While it is ongoing, it is important that short-term improvements are carried out to ensure that traffic flows more smoothly and to relieve congestion. Later this year, tidal flow arrangements over the bascule bridge, which are necessary as a result of the bridge having only three lanes, are due to be improved. The old signs and signalling equipment will be replaced. It is important that that work takes place on time. The Highways Agency is working with Suffolk county council on proposals to improve key junctions around the town, including the nearby Pier terrace, the Asda roundabout, Tom Crisp way and its junction with Blackheath road, and the junction by the Flying Dutchman. Will the Minister do all he can to ensure that those works take place as soon as possible?

For nearly 80 years, there has been a need for a third crossing over Lake Lothing, but requests to Governments of all colours have fallen on deaf ears. As a result, many people in Lowestoft feel let down by and alienated from those in Westminster. To get the third crossing built will not be easy. Plenty of challenges lie ahead, but there are reasons to be optimistic. First, the Government recognise the need for a strategic approach to building such large local infrastructure projects. It is helpful that the crossing is now on a strategic route, the A47, which has been identified as a growth corridor. Secondly, the acceptance of the need for such projects to be driven by local people and local businesses who know their area best, rather than by the man from Whitehall, is encouraging. Those people are better placed to understand what a scheme such as the third crossing can do for the Lowestoft and East Anglian economy. Finally, the success of the enterprise zone illustrates and confirms Lowestoft’s great potential, but that can be fully realised only by first-class infrastructure. In summary, there is a real opportunity to build the third crossing. I look forward to the Minister’s reply on how the Government will work with local people to turn that dream into a reality.

A47

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Westminster Hall

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland (Mr Simpson) on securing this important debate. Its timing is opportune, as the A47 corridor feasibility study being carried out by the Department for Transport is now at the stage of identifying the range of infrastructure proposals that are required to address the problems that occur along the corridor.

Although the A47 currently runs from Peterborough to Great Yarmouth, the study also includes the part of the A12 that runs from Great Yarmouth to the south side of Lake Lothing in Lowestoft in my constituency. I very much welcome that, as it presents the opportunity to provide a high-quality road to Lowestoft and the Waveney area, which can play a vital role in attracting business and jobs. In due course, I hope that the A47 will run right into the heart of Lowestoft, so as to put the town well and truly on the national road map.

At present, the poor quality and unreliability of the A47 means that it is not the gateway to growth that it should be. Its reliability is adversely affected by collisions and disruptions, often on the single carriageway sections. There are a number of pinch points that cause congestion, deterring business and costing it dear. Those include the Bascule bridge in Lowestoft, the Gapton Hall roundabout in Great Yarmouth and the Hardwick roundabout in King’s Lynn.

One of the most significant challenges that the nation faces today is rebalancing the economy. Investment in infrastructure such as roads has a key role to play in that task. Around the world, an increasing amount of trade and wealth is concentrated in a small number of major cities. In the United Kingdom, we have London, and although it is very good news that we do, that, in itself, presents a challenge—the need to ensure that economic activity is not concentrated in one small part of the country for the benefit of the few. A properly functioning strategic road network has an important role to play to ensure that the regions of the UK perform to their full economic potential. The A47 can do that for the economies of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

As a region, East Anglia is the second largest contributor to the Treasury after London and the south-east. However, this is no time for resting on our laurels, as with the right investment, the region can contribute even more in such key industries as food, tourism and energy. East Anglia is set to play the leading role in supplying the country’s energy needs, not only keeping the lights on, but providing new and exciting jobs. The working life of Sizewell B has been extended, and there are new-build proposals at Sizewell C. The southern North sea gas basin is still in full production with 150 working platforms, and the world’s largest offshore wind farms will be built off the East Anglian coast. To make the most of those opportunities, we need not only good infrastructure, but a strategic approach towards its provision.

I turn to what is being done by national and local government. Last year, the Government published “Investing in Britain’s future”, and they have now followed that up with “Action for Roads”, which sets out a national investment strategy. As part of that strategy, six feasibility studies of major roads, including the A47, are now being carried out. Once those studies have been completed, the Government will publish their road investment strategy later this year.

That strategic approach is very much to be welcomed, as it is important that investment is pinpointed and targeted, and not scattergun. To be effective, individual improvements to the road network must take place in a strategic framework and not in a vacuum. That national work provides the framework in which Suffolk county council, Waveney district council and the New Anglia local enterprise partnership are working up their road improvement plans in the Lowestoft transport and infrastructure prospectus and the options appraisal for a new crossing of Lake Lothing, which is currently being carried out. Those much needed local projects are vital component parts of a regional and national strategy that will ensure that investment in our roads yields the best possible return, in terms of added value to the economy and the creation of new jobs.

Now that the upgrading of the A11 from Norwich to the M11 is almost complete, it is appropriate to turn attention to improving the A47; the road that links Waveney, Norfolk and northern Cambridgeshire to the midlands and the north. The upgrading of the A47 can bring similar economic benefits to the northern part of East Anglia to those that the A14 has brought to the south. It can provide a boost to ports on its route—Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn—in much the same way as the haven ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich have benefited over the past 35 years from the upgrading of the A14.

The A47 can be a strategic route, linking Europe through East Anglia to the midlands and the north. It is already part of the trans-European network and if it is upgraded, it will provide better connections both to Europe and around the world, not only through those three ports, but through Norwich international airport. It will help attract business from outside the UK, providing vital inward investment.

An improved road is vital if those ports are to flourish. It should be remembered that the poor quality of the A47 was one reason why Norfolkline and Maersk relocated from Great Yarmouth to Felixstowe two decades ago. As I mentioned, industries that will benefit from an upgraded A47 are energy, food and tourism, and it could also lead to an expansion of the distribution and logistics industry in the same way as the A14 has generated such activity along its corridor from Felixstowe to Kettering.

Why invest in the A47? There are three good reasons: the compelling business case; the absence of significant environmental obstacles; and a united front of business and political leaders in the three counties supporting the campaign, backed by the Eastern Daily Press newspaper.

That upgrading should include improving important links. There is the link between the ports of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, which is vital as so much of the business in the two towns is interconnected. There is the link to Norwich and its airport; the latter can perform the same role for our region as the airport at Aberdeen plays for north-east Scotland. There is the link to the recently upgraded A11, providing improved access to London and the south-east. There is also the link to the north and the midlands via the A1, providing better connections for East Anglia’s energy businesses to companies in their supply chains in those regions.

Good roads are vital if Lowestoft is to realise its full economic potential. The town needs not only good connections to the rest of the country, but a road network around the town that operates properly. The current congestion is an obstacle to growth.

If Lowestoft is to attract significant inward investment, it is vital that it is on the strategic national road network. Good roads to the town will complement the important initiatives that have been put in place in the past two to three years. Those include the enterprise zone, centre for offshore renewable engineering status for the ports of Lowestoft and Yarmouth, and most recently, the inclusion of parts of the two towns on the assisted areas map for 2014 to 2020. Without good road links, Lowestoft and Yarmouth risk being marooned at the end of the line, and those initiatives will not realise their full potential.

The poor transport infrastructure to the port of Lowestoft and Lake Lothing are holding back considerable potential for creating new jobs. Research recently carried out by Mott MacDonald concludes that a new crossing of Lake Lothing and the upgrading of Denmark road will result in sites being developed more quickly, the creation of a significant number of additional jobs and the generation of £103 million of gross value added per annum. Those assessments take no account of the significant spin-off benefits that will accrue to supply chain businesses.

It is vital that a clear commitment is provided at the outset to dual the A47 across its entire length from Lowestoft to Peterborough. Full dualling will improve the road’s safety and reliability, reduce travel times and bring significant economic benefits to the area. A patchwork of improvements tackling specific bottlenecks, though welcome, may well bring its own problems, creating new congestion and safety blackspots. Those may well be where sections of dualling come to a seemingly abrupt end. Although I accept that the work will need to be done in phases, the announcement this autumn of a commitment to fully dual the A47 will bring a major boost to investment and regeneration.

I started my working life in Norwich in 1983. At that time, there was one small section of dual carriageway in Norfolk, at Cringleford on the A11 on the outskirts of the city. Just over 30 years later, the full dualling of the A11 from Norwich to the A14 is finally almost complete. I urge the Minister and the Government to do all they can to ensure that the A47 is dualled in a far shorter period.

The Government’s approach to rebalancing the economy and revitalising the regions is the right one. I am referring to the creation of LEPs, initiatives such as enterprise zones and investment in infrastructure: broadband, rail and roads. The Government are right to pursue a strategic approach towards upgrading the national road network. The case for the A47 is compelling. Now is the time to be bold and to set out an ambitious vision that will produce a huge dividend in terms of inward investment, increased prosperity and jobs for East Anglia.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

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

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin)]

The Government are committed to reducing traffic congestion and investing in our road infrastructure. Spending on strategic roads over this and the next Parliament will be £24 billion. A £500 million programme of pinch point schemes specifically targeted at tackling congestion is being progressed on both the strategic and local road network and a further £800 million is being invested in 25 local authority major road schemes. I am sure my hon. Friend will also join me in welcoming the additional £200 million that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced in yesterday’s Budget for pothole repairs.

[Peter Aldous]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that answer. The Prime Minister visited Lowestoft in January and saw for himself the fantastic opportunities in the offshore energy sector. Unfortunately, they could be choked off by congestion such as that experienced in the past fortnight. The problem could be solved by a new crossing at Lake Lothing. Suffolk county council, with the help of the local enterprise partnership and Waveney district council, has commissioned a study to come up with the right solution. Will the Secretary of State visit Lowestoft to see the problem for himself?

[Mr McLoughlin]

It has been a considerable time since I last visited Lowestoft, but following my hon. Friend’s invitation I shall certainly do so. Ministerial colleagues, including the Prime Minister, have visited. My hon. Friend’s points are well made, and they have been made to me by other colleagues.