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Written Question
Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking the use case of large capacity L-Category vehicles into consideration when setting proposed phase-out dates for new non-zero emission (a) mopeds and (b) motorcycles.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The consultation on when to end the sale of new non-zero emission L-category vehicles was open to responses from 14 July to 21 September 2022 and supported by a thorough programme of stakeholder engagement, which is ongoing. The Department is now analysing the responses, including points raised on the use cases of these vehicles, and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course.


Written Question
Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions
Tuesday 21st November 2023

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the actions identified in the joint action plan published by the Motorcycle Industry Association entitled Realising the Full Potential of Zero Emission Powered Light Vehicles in February 2022.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government continues to engage with industry to deliver the Action Plan where appropriate. To address actions 2 and 3 on growing and developing the supply chain, the Government made up to £350,000 of funding available for research and development projects to grow the zero-emission motorcycle supply chain in the UK. The Department is also working with the recently established “Powered Light Vehicle Community” to address action 9 on creating a formal L-category community. In addition, the Department is engaged with the MCIA’s recent licensing review proposals to address action 6 to review minimum testing and licence entitlements for all battery electric L-Category vehicles.


Written Question
Motorcycles: Carbon Emissions
Tuesday 21st November 2023

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will work with the Motorcycle Industry Association on establishing a credit scheme for non-zero emission L-Category vehicles after the end-of-sale phase-out date.

Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government will consult on any future regulatory framework to deliver and enforce the end of sale dates for new non-zero emission L-category vehicles as is appropriate. This would involve engagement with industry and other stakeholders.


Written Question
Transport: Safety
Tuesday 24th October 2023

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to respond to each of his Department's open consultations relating to transport safety.

Answered by Jesse Norman

There are several consultations currently open that include safety considerations in some form. The Department aims to publish government responses to all consultations in a timely fashion, in line with Government Consultation Principles.


Written Question
Public Transport: Payments
Tuesday 6th December 2022

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will have discussions with transport operators on ensuring that their services accept cash payments.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Passengers should have access to a ticketing system which is user-friendly. As modern ticketing and payment methods are rolled out more widely, we will continue to work with the transport sector to cater for those passengers that need to use cash to buy a ticket.


Written Question
Road Traffic
Monday 5th September 2022

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will provide a copy of his response to Arun District Council's Director of Growth about the basis for calculating expected growth in traffic to the hon Member for Worthing West.

Answered by Karl McCartney

The department responded to the Director of Growth at Arun District Council on the 31th August 2022, a copy of this response has been attached.


Written Question
Motorway Service Areas: Large Goods Vehicles
Thursday 25th November 2021

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what data his Department holds on the (a) daytime and (b) night-time occupancy of HGV parking places in motorway service areas.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Department does not hold data on the daytime occupancy rates of HGV parking places in Motorway Service Areas (MSAs). The National Survey of Lorry Parking (2018) contains data on night-time occupancy of HGV parking places across all lorry parks, including MSAs, which can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/723349/national-survey-of-lorry-parking-report.pdf.

The Department is currently tendering to update the National Survey of Lorry Parking to ensure strong and up to date evidence is available on the national picture of lorry parking demand to inform decision making. We expect this to be complete by September 2022.


Written Question
Durrington-on-Sea Station: Disability
Tuesday 23rd November 2021

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the time and distance for a user of a wheel chair to get from one platform to the other at Durrington-on-Sea station.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Durrington-on-Sea is a category B2 station, which means that there is step-free access to both platforms and technically a step-free route between platforms. However, the step-free route between the two platforms is quite impractical as it is 0.6 miles via a nearby road-bridge on Shaftesbury Avenue. This is approximately a 12-minute journey for someone walking and the bridge is steep. Govia Thameslink Railway does not treat B2 category stations as accessible.


Written Question
Motor Vehicles: Testing
Thursday 17th September 2020

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what comparative assessment he has made of the (a) number of and (b) deficit in MOT testing in each month since March (i) 2019 and (ii) 2020; what estimate he has made of the (A) number of MOT tests required to restore adequate service levels and (B) average number of days before a request for a MOT test is met; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) monitors MOT testing capacity constantly to inform future planning. The agency does not hold data on MOT booking requests as they are made directly to MOT testing stations (cars) or authorised testing facilities (lorries, buses and trailers).

For lorries, buses and trailers, where DVSA staff conduct annual road worthiness (MOT) tests, the DVSA has issued a series of exemptions. The deadline for a vehicle’s next test depends on when the MOT was originally due and whether the vehicle qualifies for a 3-month or a 12-month exemption. These exemptions will be automatically applied. The DVSA is confident, with its plan for exemptions in place, that it can deliver to capacity to carry out tests when they are due. DVSA is working with industry to ensure that tests are presented when due, so that demand is managed.

For light vehicles, such as cars, where private garages carry out MOTs, a six month extension was applied automatically to all MOTs expiring between 1 April and 31 July 2020. The DVSA is working closely with the industry to help it manage demand for MOTs now extensions are no longer being issued. There is confidence the network of 23,000 garages that conduct MOTs will be able to meet demand for MOTs from light vehicle owners.


Written Question
Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls
Thursday 17th September 2020

Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue has accrued to the public purse in each year since charges replaced the original tolls at the Dartford crossing; and what estimate he has made of the time taken to pay for the costs of building the Elizabeth Bridge and funding its long-term maintenance.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The revenue accruing from the Dart Charge is published each year in the Dartford-Thurrock river crossing charging scheme accounts (in the table headed income) which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/search/all?keywords=%22dartford+thurrock%22+accounts&order=relevance.

Toll charges were levied until 2003 when the debts associated with the construction of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and the tunnels had been fully discharged. A Road User Charge was introduced in 2003 to manage the high demand for use of the Crossing after a study reported that traffic levels would be 17% higher if payment was removed. The charges imposed and collected are used to fund transport improvements in accordance with the Transport Act 2000, though not exclusively Dartford-related.

The published accounts include figures on the maintenance and operation of the crossing in the expenditure table.

The maintenance cost for both the tunnels and Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, for the year ended 31 March 2019, amounted to £11.371 million. This figure included costs for:

Expenditure (2018-2019)

£000

Highways England Staff

3,530

Safety Scheme

4,833

EU Tunnel directive on safety

1,848

Technology projects safety

890

Network Resilience

136

Routine maintenance

494