East Suffolk and Wherry Railway Lines

Richard Bacon Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

Earlier this month, on 3 May, I helped unveil a timeline on Lowestoft station, the UK’s most easterly station, to mark the 175th anniversary of the railway arriving in the town. Lowestoft is the end destination for both the East Suffolk line and one of two for the Wherry line, the other being Great Yarmouth. Those routes serve the most easterly points in the UK, which are now hubs for sustainable energy, manufacturing, engineering, hospitality and hopefully a revitalised fishing industry.

The timeline reveals a long and illustrious past. Looking to the future, if we make the right decisions and secure the right investment now, we can bring major benefits and job opportunities to communities all along the two lines in both East Suffolk and East Norfolk. The two railways pass through and are close to communities that Transport East assesses as being transport deserts, where there are few realistic alternatives to the private car.

Passenger numbers on both lines have recovered well from covid, particularly for leisure-based travel. In April 2022, the numbers on both lines were up 19% on the equivalent period in 2019. In recent years, some significant improvements have been made to the services on both lines, but there is so much more that can be done and considerable scope for further enhancement. It should be borne in mind that the journey time from Lowestoft to Ipswich is now longer than when the service was first provided in 1859.

In the past, the East Suffolk and Wherry lines have brought considerable benefits to the area, serving and supporting residents, facilitating trade and business and promoting tourism. The arrival of the railways was a catalyst for bringing prosperity to the area.

Today, the railway can play the same role as it did 175 years ago in a number of ways. Enhanced services improve connectivity. That is particularly important in a coastal area, where roads are not good. There is a need to provide reliable, frequent and fast services that connect seamlessly with the rest of the rail network. That is important for those working in the energy sector, whether in the transitioning oil and gas sector, offshore wind or nuclear. That workforce requires regular and reliable transport to the area. Strong rail services are crucial to meeting net zero. There is also, increasingly, the opportunity to return freight to the railways from over-congested roads, with opportunities to do this on both lines, from the port of Lowestoft, and taking an enormous amount of materials to the proposed Sizewell C power station, to which there is a link to the East Suffolk line at Saxmundham.

Stations must be attractive, functional and accessible so as to help draw more customers. Several on the two lines are in need of upgrade, such as Great Yarmouth. Stations and their surrounds can also be a focus for regeneration. This is particularly the case in Lowestoft, where the station occupies a unique location in the town centre and where the community rail partnership, the Lowestoft Central Project and the Railway Heritage Trust have carried out considerable improvements to the station in recent years, with more work proposed. There are also exciting plans in the town improvement plan, as part of the towns fund bid, to enhance the surrounding area and to make Station Square an attractive and desirable destination. Thinking laterally, the railways can be a source of innovation. Perhaps these two lines could be pilots for alternative-fuelled trains from local low-carbon sources, such as hydrogen or bioethanol.

Nationally, there has been significant investment in the rail network in recent years. On Tuesday, Her Majesty the Queen opened the new Elizabeth line, construction of HS2 is well under way, lines closed following the Beeching report are due to be reopened, and a significant investment is being made in ticketing services. These proposals are welcome, but it is important that they complement and connect into the whole rail network. There is a concern that the East Suffolk line and the Wherry line—which are, respectively, east of Ipswich and east of Norwich—are left out on a limb and are not properly incorporated into the rest of the national rail network. They are not just branch lines like something out of “The Titfield Thunderbolt” but vital economic arteries serving growing communities.

I shall provide a very brief summary of the two lines over the past 175 years. In 1844, Sir Samuel Morton Peto purchased Lowestoft harbour and announced plans to construct the railway from Reedham to Lowestoft. After gaining parliamentary approval, the Norfolk Railway obtained a lease to construct the line, and work commenced in 1846, with the Lowestoft to Norwich line opening to goods traffic on 3 May 1847. Following the arrival of the railway, Lowestoft grew rapidly, with the railway developing and operating the fish market, the harbour and the south pier, as well as a number of rail-related manufacturing supply networks, including the harbour engineering works, the sleeper depot, and a concrete products factory. In addition, in the south of the town there was a network of freight lines serving shipyards and factories. Morton Peto also developed much of Victorian Lowestoft, which became a fashionable resort that was likewise served by the railway. By the 1920s, Lowestoft was the busiest port owned and operated by the Great Eastern Railway.

The gradual decline of the railway network in east Suffolk and east Norfolk probably started in 1963 with the publication of the Beeching report, which initially recommended closure of the East Suffolk line. However, in 1966 the line was reprieved from closure following a successful campaign led by the East Suffolk Travel Association, which is still going strong and of which I am a member. In 1970, despite local opposition, the direct line between Lowestoft and Yarmouth South Town was closed, and in 1973 the transportation of fish by rail from Lowestoft also came to an end. This was followed in 1984 by the ending of direct through services from Liverpool Street to Lowestoft. In 1992, despite local opposition, the concourse roof at Lowestoft station was removed—although there are now exciting plans to reinstate a lightweight version.

The good news is that the decline in the latter part of the 20th century has been reversed in the first two decades of the 21st century. The Beccles loop was constructed on the East Suffolk line, enabling an hourly service to Ipswich to be reintroduced from late 2012. In the subsequent 10 years, passenger numbers have doubled. In 2013, a new bus interchange facility was built at Lowestoft station. Local community groups have come together to upgrade facilities at stations, including those previously mentioned at Lowestoft and Campsea Ashe, but also at Beccles, where there is a need for accessibility improvements, as there is now at Halesworth, too.

The most notable improvement occurred in 2019, when Greater Anglia introduced a brand new fleet of trains across its network, thereby dispelling East Anglia’s unwanted reputation as an elephants’ graveyard, where old trains that other regions no longer wanted came to see out their final days in service. The new bimodal fleet is more comfortable and has more seats, good accessibility, with low floors and retractable steps, and full wi-fi. Further improvements have taken place since, including the £60 million investment in re-signalling the Wherry line and the reopening of the freight sidings at Lowestoft, from where since 2020 aggregates brought into the adjoining port have been transported to the midlands.

Recently, Network Rail has announced plans to refurbish the historic swing bridges at Oulton Broad, Somerleyton and Reedham. As mentioned, EDF is working up plans with Network Rail for as much as possible of the material and aggregates required for the construction of Sizewell C, which is a nationally important strategic infrastructure project, to be brought in by rail.

These upgrades are welcome and provide a good foundation on which to improve the two lines still further so that they can make an enduring contribution to the local economy. However, there is concern that with a focus on major projects elsewhere, the two lines could be overlooked. The fact that the 2016 franchise commitment to reintroduce a through service from Lowestoft to Liverpool Street has been dropped from the new contract that Greater Anglia signed with the Department for Transport last September has come as a major disappointment to many.

So as not to lose momentum, I suggest that the following issues need to be addressed. First, while not actually on the two lines, the upgrading of Haughley junction on the Great Eastern line and the improvements at Ely junction will have a beneficial knock-on impact that will cascade right across East Anglia. They will not only increase capacity, but facilitate the transfer of freight from road to rail. These projects must be included in the forthcoming rail network enhancements pipeline, and I know that colleagues from across the three countries of Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire will be repeating those requests to my hon. Friend the Minister in the coming days.

Secondly, services on the East Suffolk and Wherry lines must properly connect into the national rail network. That means not only the aforementioned through service to Liverpool Street, which initially could be trialled on a weekend seasonal basis, but improved connections to the Queen Elizabeth line at Shenfield and Stratford, to Cambridge, to Stansted and ultimately linking into the East West Rail project from Cambridge to Oxford.

Thirdly, the speed of the services must be reviewed. We now have faster trains, but they cannot go any quicker because of track constraints, such as single-line sections, level crossings and historical speed restrictions. The new trains are more powerful and can accelerate and decelerate quicker, and that should be reflected in the timetables, which should be reviewed. While it is important not to take any risks with safety, in the short term, Network Rail should be given more flexibility to make small-scale improvements under normal operator maintenance renewal works, rather than having to go through the rail network enhancements pipeline process, which is cumbersome and is better suited to major large-scale projects, not local, quick-win initiatives.

In the longer term, journey times could be reduced further if level crossings were upgraded or closed and line speeds increased. Feasibility studies should be carried out to look into that issue in detail and come up with an agreed strategy for which we can then seek funding. The study should also consider the reliability of rail infrastructure. The Wherry line was closed in February due to flooding at Haddiscoe, and work should be carried out to mitigate that. There are also assets along both lines that are in need of renewal through Network Rail control period 7.

Fourthly, it is necessary to improve the frequency of services along both lines. It is clear that more regular services stimulate greater use. The hourly service on the East Suffolk line, which has resulted from the construction of the Beccles loop, has proved incredibly popular.

As part of the aforementioned studies, research should be carried out to ascertain what infrastructure improvements are necessary to enable half-hourly services to be introduced on both lines. That may involve the construction of further passing loops, which could also facilitate greater freight use, whether to Sizewell or from Lowestoft port, or possibly in due course from the sugar beet factory at Cantley. On the East Suffolk line, there is the possibility of further passing loops to the south to facilitate through services to Liverpool Street and to the north to enable the introduction of that half-hourly service.

Fifthly, in the longer term, the siting of stations and whether all trains should stop at all stations should be reviewed. In the Lowestoft area, it might be appropriate to consider having one consolidated station at Oulton Broad to serve the significant amount of residential development proposed in the immediately surrounding area, and to consider a station at Carlton Colville, where there has been significant development in recent years and where the line runs close to Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s increasingly popular Carlton Marshes visitor centre. The opportunities for promoting tourism should be fully considered.

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and parliamentary neighbour for giving way. I am very familiar with his area: indeed, when I drive in my constituency from Diss to Ditchingham, which is just east of Bungay in his constituency, I think I cross the Norfolk-Suffolk border four times. I should declare a further interest in that my grandfather lived in Lowestoft when I was a child. My great-grandfather took him to the coast, he took my father, my father took me and I take my sons.

In addition to the extraordinary growth in leisure use of local rail services, which I experience myself—it is sometimes difficult to get a seat at the weekend—does my hon. Friend agree that the biggest impression that we should leave with the Minister today is on his point about the vital economic arteries that serve growing local communities? The capacity for East Anglia to grow and to make a growing contribution to the national economy, given our size and scope and the availability of land, will be enhanced only if we get the investment that we need. The dropping of the commitment for the Lowestoft to Liverpool Street service should be reversed, and we would like to see the Department put pressure on for that to happen. The upside potential of the region is extraordinary, if only we get the investment.

[Peter Aldous]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend’s points. East Anglia has enormous potential to add to the national economy and investment in rail will facilitate that.

Sixthly, we must think innovatively and out of the box. Although it is very early days, we could consider pilots for trains that are fuelled by local low-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen generated at Sizewell or bioethanol from sugar beet from Cantley.

Finally, two pernickety points must be addressed. First, the local community are doing great work in restoring Lowestoft station and its surrounds, but that work will move forward significantly if the disused and dilapidated building at the rear of the station is made available to East Suffolk Council so that it can bring forward plans for bringing it back into use. I understand that Network Rail has agreed to that, but the matter has been dragging on for some time. Secondly, a few years ago, improvements were carried out on the Wherry line at Oulton Broad North to reduce the time that the level crossing barriers are down across Bridge Road and reduce the amount of traffic that builds up on either side of the crossing. The re-signalling of the line has led to the barriers being down for longer, which is increasing congestion. Network Rail is working to resolve the problem, but it has been going on for some time.

In conclusion, I highlight the lead role that the East Suffolk and Wherry lines can play in levelling up across coastal East Anglia, so that our area is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities emerging in renewable energy, tourism, hospitality and a revived fishing industry. I urge the Minister to do all she can to get approval for the Haughley and Ely junction upgrades and to commission the feasibility studies into route and service upgrades along both the East Suffolk and Wherry lines.

Sir Richard Shepherd

Richard Bacon Excerpts

Thursday 10th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis), and I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) on his very moving speech. I had the pleasure of knowing Sir Richard, not for as many years as my hon. Friend, but when I was a young man, I was first an undergraduate and then a graduate student at the London School of Economics—Richard’s alma mater—and he was a great hero of mine.

My hon. Friend mentioned a speech that he gave on 21 February 1992. I was living in Berlin at the time, and I spent a lot of time in the British Council library trying to understand what on earth was going on in my own land while I was living abroad learning German. Richard was a beacon for me at that time, and I commend the speech to which my hon. Friend referred. In a book, Edward Pearce, the journalist, referred to Richard’s speech on that date, on Second Reading of the Referendum Bill, as belonging in any anthology of great parliamentary speeches. Colleagues can look it up for themselves. It begins at column 581. I want to quote the last sentence because it has been for me a beacon for many years and showed how well Richard understood the central issue within the European question. He said:

“I say as a last note to the House that our people should ‘not go gentle into that good night’ but should rather ‘rage, rage, against the dying of the light’ that requires us to live under laws that we cannot change or control.”

[Sir William Cash]

I want to add a little bit to what my hon. Friend has just said. He was followed immediately after that speech by no less a person than Mr Peter Shore, the great Labour exponent of dislike of the idea of European government. He said:

“I think that the House will be grateful to the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr. Shepherd) for introducing the Bill and giving us an opportunity of addressing the most important issue that has come before us during the lifetime of this Parliament, which will shortly end.

The House will also be grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the clarity and passion with which he argued his case.”—[Official Report, 21 February 1992; Vol. 204, c. 589.]

And there was more besides.

[Mr Bacon]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I have that text in front of me. When I was a teenager, my father lived in Canada and I spent a lot of time going over there. Peter Shore was for a while the Trade Secretary or Transport Secretary and tried to thwart Freddie Laker’s attempt to introduce cheap airline tickets. As a very young man, I was extremely interested in cheap airline tickets. It took me some years to realise what a great man Peter Shore actually was, and my hon. Friend has done us a service in reminding us of that now.

In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, may I thank you for the chance to speak in this debate? I hope that we all remember Sir Richard Shepherd for his extraordinary contribution.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Bacon Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Trudy Harrison]

I can certainly give the hon. Member an assurance that I am across the detail of that bid. I am delighted that 49 of the buses would go to Go North East, 14 to Durham County Council and 10 to Northumberland. Those will be in addition to the nine electric buses that are already operating in the north-east at the moment. [Hon. Members: “Where?”] The answer is between Newcastle and Gateshead on Voltra routes 53 and 54. We will have a further nine buses later this year.

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

Will Ministers make time to visit Equipmake, a fast-growing specialised manufacturer of batteries for electric buses— which began as a start-up at the excellent Hethel innovation centre in my constituency, and having outgrown those premises, has moved to Wymondham, which was in my constituency but is now in that of the Science Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman)—so that the Science Minister and I can explain to them just how at the cutting edge Norfolk is technologically and how much more it can do with the right support?

[Trudy Harrison]

I would be delighted to accept that invitation. The UK has a wealth of bus and coach manufacturers. About 80% of the service buses are made in the UK and I look forward to the invitation.

A47

Richard Bacon Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Westminster Hall

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to take part in this debate and to follow many esteemed colleagues, including those from Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, who are most welcome. I hope that the Minister has heard enough to convince him that Norfolk is not a sleepy backwater, but a major centre of world-class innovation in a variety of different disciplines relating to agriculture, science and engineering.

Some years ago I was in the United States on a State Department exchange. I was shadowing a Congressman in Iowa and tried to explain where I was from. It rapidly became clear that they knew exactly where I was from—“Oh, you’re from where the Norwich research park and the John Innes centre are.” I do not know how well known those places are domestically compared with internationally —they should be better known domestically—but it is important for people to understand that we have the greatest concentration of plant and food scientists in Europe, and that it is world-renowned.

The John Innes centre is not alone: we have the Institute of Food Research, which is a world leader in harnessing food for health and preventing food-related diseases; the Genome Analysis Centre, a world-class centre for the study of genomics; and the Sainsbury Laboratory, which is independently ranked as first in the world, along with the John Innes centre and the impact of its research on plant and animal sciences.

There is so much more. In addition to plant science and biotechnology, we have pharmaceuticals and health care, and food, nutrition and health, as my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) mentioned. We have not just things such as agritech and crop breeding, but medical technologies and diagnostics, clean tech, low-carbon energy and information and computing technologies. We could do even more.

I was delighted when some years ago the Chancellor announced a £26 million investment in the Centrum building, and I had the pleasure of performing the topping-out ceremony last November—I poured a bottle of locally-brewed beer over the completed superstructure. We are looking forward to the completion and opening of that building in July.

There is still more, and more that would benefit from a proper road infrastructure. I also have the Hethel engineering centre in my constituency. A few weeks ago, I attended the opening of the second extension to the building, having attended the opening of the first a few years ago. It is a business centre dedicated to supporting the growth of high-performance engineering and manufacturing businesses in the region—something that the Government very much need.

I hesitate to mention any of the names of the tenants at Hethel, because it feels invidious—there are so many high-quality businesses—but I will give some examples: Syrinix is a signal processing, software and electronics integration company; Ansible Motion designs and manufactures motion platforms for high-end motorsport and road car driving simulators; Proeon Systems provides engineering design consultancy and software development for complex gas turbine control applications; NexxtDrive creates hybrid-capable transmission systems; and PhaD engages in research and development for innovation across a whole range of engineering and applied sciences, providing engineering, mathematical and technical expertise. There are many others.

The potential for what could happen at the Hethel engineering centre is considerably greater than what we currently have, because although it has made tremendous progress, the real prize is the 75 acres of land that sits behind it. Group Lotus is a major local car manufacturer and global engineering consultancy. I am pleased to say that it has recently been making big improvements after some difficult times. Only half of its business is car manufacture; the other half is global consultancy to a range of motor manufacturers around the world. The land between the Hethel engineering centre and Group Lotus has the potential to become a science and engineering park, based on the principles we have seen at the Norwich research park, that could rival Harwell in Oxford.

I have a photograph that I will show to the Minister afterwards, because I do not think that Hansard will be able to pick it up. If he looks at this aerial photograph of Harwell, he will see what is possible. Harwell has a whole range of different disciplines, focusing on medical devices, space-detector systems, computing, green enterprise and so on. We want more of that. By the way, the A34 near Harwell is already being improved because of what is going on there.

We will not get the investment required to turn around the 75 acres, and ensure that we get the high-end, high-value-added jobs that we need, unless we can persuade investors to come. We will not succeed in that unless we can show them that the Government are committed to the area’s infrastructure. I strongly sympathise with what my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk said about East Anglia having been in some ways left behind in the race for infrastructure, despite the fact that we contribute so much to the Exchequer and that our population contributes so much to other parts of the country through paying rail fares into the rail premiums.

We have been left behind. I know that the Government understand that and have started to do something about it. We are very grateful for the dualling of the A11—it is long overdue—but that is only the start; the job is not finished. The A47 is supposed to be part of a trans-European network. It is supposed to be one of the strategic routes for not just the east of England or the UK, but the whole of Europe. It is extraordinary that the old regional development agency did not even focus on it.

Nevertheless, we could do so much more. We have been held back by poor infrastructure, and it is time for that to change. The Minister will have noticed how colleagues from across Norfolk have collaborated to ensure that the message is hammered home. We have missed out for too long, and as Members of Parliament in Norfolk, we are determined to ensure that that changes.

[Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

I am not sure that my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland (Mr Simpson) has often been likened to Cinderella during his 17 distinguished years in the House, but I hope that in the autumn statement he will finally get to go to the ball, because he has campaigned on this issue throughout those 17 years. He is absolutely right to say that the matter has been dealt with on a piecemeal, patch-and-mend basis. As a result, issues have been stored up—nowhere more so than in Fenland, which I have the privilege to represent.

I am sure it will surprise the House to learn that in the whole of Fenland fewer than two miles are dualled, yet Fenland is one of the country’s leading areas for the haulage business, which is linked to the food production of the fens. Haulage is a significant player within the Fenland economy, and yet the transport infrastructure does not reflect that.

Adjacent to Fenland, Peterborough is one of our fastest growing cities. If one looks at the core strategy for Fenland, one sees that significant housing is planned for the area. At a time when some other parts of the country are resistant to delivering on the Government’s housing intentions, this is an area that can unlock the housing required, if the Government meet us halfway in delivering the necessary transport infrastructure.

On the holistic view across Government, another area where potential benefits can be leveraged from the A47—benefits often not captured in the Treasury rules currently measuring the scheme—is around the College of West Anglia, which has seen significant investment: a £5 million new teaching facility and a £7.5 million engineering faculty have recently been built. If we are to attract businesses to the area, we should take into account that they do not look only on a linear east-west or west-east route; they look on a north-south axis as well. Frustration is felt in areas such as north Cambridgeshire, although the Government have made real progress with the Cambridge city deal and new transport improvements. For example, Cambridge airport has this week launched two new services to Dublin and Amsterdam.

Such services are attractive to businesses considering north Cambridgeshire as an area, but they will be restricted if other parts of the transport network do not connect. That aspect is not always captured in the feasibility and benefits assessments under Treasury rules. For international businesses in the global race that are considering the Cambridgeshire fens as an attractive place to do business, the east-west transport nexus combines with the north-south improvements to deliver a much greater bang for the buck. As the Minister will know, the A47 scheme also connects with Wisbech rail, which I am sure he has had an opportunity to look at in recent weeks in relation to the discussions with the local enterprise partnership in terms of leveraging that.

My second point concerns the lack of alternatives to the A47. Last year, the four-mile stretch between Wisbech and Guyhirn was subject to routine road maintenance, and the highways authority diversion was 52 miles. That was the Highways Agency’s official diversion. There was a considerable cost to business and motorists and also a safety issue; it took the heavy haulage traffic off the route, which is a route of European significance, and on to minor roads where motorists are not familiar with such traffic.

So the road has strategic significance to the region. The economic benefits that we can leverage are not only from the route itself; they combine with the city deal in Cambridge and the innovation in the south of the county, and with the significant growth potential of areas such as Peterborough. My hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) fully supports my hon. Friend the Member for Broadland. He would be here, but he has an important constituency engagement.

I will not delay the House with the specific issues within Fenland where action is particularly required. Those points have been made to the Minister through the A47 Alliance. He will be familiar with the Broad End junction, the demand forecasts of around 34%, the significant congestion from Wisbech to Guyhirn, and some of the localised challenges.

I want to close with an issue that has not been raised and is unusual for a road scheme. I am talking about the significant benefits that an upgrade to the A47 would offer bus users. The X1 runs along the route of the A47; it is unusual because it runs for more than four hours along the whole route. I have spoken to the bus company, and one of the things that has to be factored in is the significant delays in the timetable, because of the unpredictability of the transport on that route. If someone is setting a timetable, they need to build in capacity for delays on the route.

The scheme does not benefit only the life sciences businesses to which my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) alluded. It does not connect only with airports such as Norwich, which the hon. Member for Norwich South (Simon Wright) mentioned and which I highlighted in relation to Cambridge international airport. It also has a benefit to bus users in an area where public transport is particularly poor.

[Mr Bacon]

I am very interested to hear my hon. Friend make that point, because David Lawrence, the principal of Easton and Otley college—an agricultural training college in the west of my constituency—has told me that he has to arrange transport for his students, and pay for it from his college budget, to get people from as far west as the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border. People not familiar with the area may not understand the distances that people have routinely to travel to engage in activity of any kind.

[Stephen Barclay]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He has highlighted one final point that I want to make. He and I have sat through many Public Accounts Committee hearings in which transport schemes have been put forward that overestimated the benefits and underestimated the costs. We have a paradox here. We have a region that will deliver greater benefits than have traditionally been forecast, and the potential of the scheme has been undervalued throughout the 17 years that my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Broadland has been in this place. In today’s debate we have heard about the significant economic opportunities that the scheme offers and about the wider benefits: it links to airports and there are benefits for bus users and for road safety—an issue that has touched far too many families across our region and on which action is timely.

A47 (Upgrading and Dualling)

Richard Bacon Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[George Freeman]

My hon. Friend has made a powerful and important point, to which I am sure the Minister will want to respond.

I have initiated this debate in order to highlight the key strategic importance of this route to our economy, to raise its profile nationally and to build the momentum of the important campaign and the work that is taking place locally. The road is of key strategic importance to our region and our nation, but it is also a dangerous route for those who use and cross it. I believe, and I know that the other local Members believe, that it could act as a catalyst, enabling East Anglia to become a genuine centre for innovation and enterprise focused on the greater Norwich economy. I hope that the Minister will provide further reassurance this evening that the Government will make the route a priority in the next round of funding, will look kindly on my request for pinch-point funds, and will view sympathetically my concern about some of the bottlenecks that need particularly urgent attention because they have the greatest potential to unlock growth.

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

My hon. Friend raised the issue of safety. My constituents are lucky, in that the section of the A47 that is immediately to the north of them, in both the east and the west, is the bit that is immediately south of Norwich, which is dualled. As my hon. Friend knows, however, the road stops being dualled very slightly to the west of that. People whom I have employed in my office for years knew people—often they were at school with them—who were killed in accidents on that extremely dangerous stretch just to the west of the point at which the dualling ceases. Does my hon. Friend agree that of all the various considerations, safety should be one of the foremost in the Minister’s mind?

[George Freeman]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. He is absolutely right that one of the most dangerous things about this road now is its intermittent dualling. In both of our constituencies, some of the most lethal sections are those where the road goes from dualled to undualled. Every month we hear of terrible injuries and deaths on the road.

This campaign has the full support not only of the county council and the local enterprise partnership, but of all my fellow Norfolk MPs, and I thank them for their leadership and support. On this, as on other infrastructure issues, we are “Norfolk united.” A number of colleagues are unable to speak in the debate. In particular, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), who is now rightly on the Front Bench as Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. He has played a key role in highlighting the Acle straight and the Vauxhall roundabout, and in making our case powerfully to Ministers and helping to organise the two meetings we have had. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), who also holds a Front-Bench post, as Under-Secretary of State for Education, and is unable to be here tonight. She has made clear her support for the A47 as a major route.

Across Norfolk we have for many years waited in vain for infrastructure funding. It is well recognised that this coalition Government have done more in the last two or three years for infrastructure in Norfolk than have successive Governments over previous decades. We have finally had success on the A11. Those of us who use that road, which is still a bottleneck, can now see the bulldozers laying the foundations for the dualling that will be done by 2015.

--- Later in debate ---

[George Freeman]

My hon. Friend is a passionate and effective advocate for King’s Lynn and that area, and he has done extraordinary work in putting it on the map, both through rail and now through road. He makes an excellent point: by connecting these centres, we not only improve the national economy but help to tackle problems of exclusion and deprivation locally.

The business plan makes clear the economic benefits in Norwich: 5,000 jobs, £240 million in additional private investment and an extra 2,500 dwellings. For Great Yarmouth—represented admirably by the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth, who has to sit silent on the Front Bench and listen to me describe the benefits in his own constituency—the figures are 3,865 jobs, £227 million in private investment, and 200 dwellings.

It is not least for that reason that the business plan has had such support from the local business community. Richard Marks, managing director of John Lewis in Norwich, said:

“Norwich is growing its reputation as a retail destination…we support the proposals which will help improve communication across the county”.

Matthew Jones, chief operating officer of Norwich research park, said:

“The NRP fully supports the plans for improving the A47 which are essential to achieving the huge potential of the park to drive economic growth and development of the greater Norwich area”.

Phil Gadd, contracts director at Norwich airport, said:

“The world can fly to Norwich. However, it cannot access the region. We need to improve the A47”

as a strategic gateway. The chairman of the Mid Norfolk branch of the Federation of Small Businesses said:

“I regularly use the A47, if I could just save 15 minutes every day and everyone else using the A47 could do the same, that equates to thousands of hours every year.”

[Mr Bacon]

My hon. Friend mentioned the Norwich research park, which is in my constituency and has the largest concentration, as he will know, of plant and food scientists in Europe, and possibly the world. He will also know that the Government have put money into improvements at the research park, which is extremely welcome. However, does he agree that the value of that taxpayer investment will be deflated to some extent if the connection that we want to see between Norwich and the cluster of expertise there and elsewhere, in centres such as Cambridge, cannot be improved?

[George Freeman]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. It would be madness for the Government, having recognised the potential of our region—and the NRP as the jewel in the crown of the Norfolk innovation economy—in terms of making improvements to the A11, rail and broadband, and of creating and helping to support a cluster of new businesses and growth, to then hold that back by allowing the A47, the clogged artery of Norfolk, to constrict and constrain growth. We know that if we cannot get the goods in and out and if we cannot get the talent, the goods and the people we need in to the middle of Norwich quickly—to the Norwich research park, which sits on the edge of his constituency and mine—the investment that the Government have already made will not deliver its full potential. With this artery unclogged, we will be able to make that money work properly.

The Minister gave us huge reassurance when we met before Christmas. I was delighted, as we all were, to hear him say that the Government are funding three route-based strategies in the current financial year to upgrade key routes across the country: the A1 in Newcastle, the M62 and the A12. We were told that those three strategies being undertaken by the Highways Agency will inform funding decisions to be made in the next Government spending review period from 2015 onwards. He made it extremely clear to us that he was obviously not able, at that time, to give us any clear commitment or guarantees on funding, but he did acknowledge that the case we made was very powerful and said that he would look carefully at it. He said:

“I’m convinced this could be the 4th or 5th scheme to put into this route-based strategy process.”

I am hoping that he will now reassure us that his convictions have only been strengthened by what he has heard tonight.

I have talked to the county council and the New Anglia LEP, and they have highlighted that we have an excellent opportunity now to bring forward elements of the programme through the Government’s pinch-point programme for trunk roads. A number of the more modest schemes proposed along the route would seem to fit the criteria, and I hope that the Minister will be able to give a little reassurance that we are pushing at an open door here. In particular, I am thinking here of the A47 Acle straight ditch relocation scheme, the details of which I will spare the House, although I will happily provide them to him and his officials after the debate, if that would be helpful; the junctions of the James Paget hospital, Beacon park roundabout and Bridge road with the A12 at Great Yarmouth; the A149 Asda junction in Great Yarmouth; and the A47 and B1108 junction at Norwich.

Although support for those schemes would be hugely welcome, the criteria mean that the highest priority and most-needed measures to stimulate housing and jobs growth are not within the scope of the current funding, as they are too large. We wanted to take the opportunity to highlight a number of projects tonight, and they are as follows: a third river crossing in Great Yarmouth; improvements at the A47 Vauxhall roundabout in Great Yarmouth; the A47 Easton to North Tuddenham dualling; the Acle straight dualling to North Burlingham; the Thickthorn interchange; the A47 Longwater junction; and improvements to the A47 Hardwick junction.

As the business case shows, local partners have been active in seeking local contributions towards those schemes. However, the scale of investment is such that Government support will be essential for us to be able to secure an overall funding package. We would all welcome any advice from the Minister as to how best we might be able to access such support.

In response to the presentation of the business case before Christmas, the Minister was very clear, telling us:

“The A47 campaign had put together a very powerful and well constructed argument. They have moved substantially forward from where they were two years ago. They have the local authorities, MPs and the local enterprise partnership all working together. I certainly recognise that the A47 is a corridor of strategic importance, and I think I did give them hope there is going to be progress on this project.”

I want to close by thanking the Minister for his diligence, his commitment to this project and his encouragement for the work that we are doing. I ask him to take this opportunity tonight to reassure us that we are pushing at an open door and to give us as much hope as he can that this blocked artery will quickly be unblocked, for the benefit of the nation.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman)on securing the debate. I know that the paucity of people in the Public Gallery has nothing to do with the power of his case; I am sure that it is more the thought of the Minister replying.

My hon. Friend raised with me, the Department and the Highways Agency the subject of future improvements to the A47 along with a number of other hon. Members, some of whom are in the Chamber tonight. They include my hon. Friends the Members for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), for Norwich North (Miss Smith), for Norwich South (Simon Wright), for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham) and for Broadland (Mr Simpson). Tonight we have heard from my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk. I met him recently and was delighted to do what we could at Middleton, and I also heard what he had to say when he made the case for King’s Lynn. Of course, I also heard the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Mr Bacon) about the Norwich research park, and it will not be lost.

I recently met my hon. Friends to discuss future proposals to improve the A47 so they know I take a great interest in the subject. I appreciate that it is important for the constituents of my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk, those of my other hon. Friends and the economic growth of the whole region. Before I discuss the A47 specifically, it is probably worth making the point that the Government regard infrastructure as a top priority. We set out in the coalition agreement a commitment to a low-carbon transport infrastructure as an essential element of building a dynamic and entrepreneurial economy. We reiterated the importance of investment in economic growth, including in the strategic and local road networks.

The A47 is part of the strategic road network, which is worth about £100 billion and covers some 4,350 miles of motorway and all-purpose trunk roads. The fact that we recognise the importance of its maintenance and enhancement can be seen through the history of this Government’s spending. In the 2010 spending review, we announced the investment of £1.4 billion in starting 14 major road schemes. In the 2011 autumn statement we identified for accelerated delivery two Highways Agency major road schemes and introduced six more schemes, making eight in total, and we allocated £1 billion of new investment to tackle areas of congestion. In the 2012 autumn statement, the Chancellor announced additional capital investment in this Parliament that would enable four further new major Highways Agency schemes to be introduced as well as making moneys available for pinch-point schemes in the strategic and local road networks.

Within the current spending review period, we will spend £1.8 billion on local authority major schemes. They will deliver significant improvements to local road networks and public transport across the country. My hon. Friends will recognise that one of those is the Norwich northern distributor road, and I hope they acknowledge the money that will go into that project.

It is important to recognise that our investment commitment is not only in the major schemes. Importantly, the Chancellor announced in his 2012 autumn statement the provision of a further £100 million of capital expenditure to undertake pinch-point schemes on the strategic network. From my point of view and, I hope, that of my hon. Friends, the most important announcement was the £170 million for a new fund for the local authority network to allow the authorities to consider the possibilities for schemes that would unlock congestion and sponsor economic growth.

I am sure that my hon. Friends will acknowledge our announcement last October about two pinch-point schemes on the A47—at the Honingham roundabout and at the junction between the A1 and the A47 at Peterborough. The Highways Agency is involved in delivering those beneficial schemes and they will both be delivered by the end of the spending round, by which I mean March 2015. I hope that my hon. Friends will recognise and welcome that short-term investment.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk for setting out both the context and the need for future improvements to the A47. As he and other hon. Friends will know, and as he acknowledged, I met a number of them in December to discuss the proposals put forward by the A47 Alliance in its “Gateway to Growth” prospectus. I am happy to reiterate what an excellent document that was. It showed how local and regional interests had combined, in stark contrast to what we had seen under previous Governments. Members of Parliament and representatives from county and district councils had come together and worked closely together to set out the case for future investment. They make that case more powerfully if they do so in a joined-up, coherent fashion.

I recognise what that prospectus says. It is a targeted programme of improvements to the strategic road network. It details about 15 specific individual schemes, with five related to the Highways Agency network and a range of other proposals. I could, if my hon. Friends wish, detail all 15 schemes now, but I know that they will have read that document and have it close to them all the time. I will therefore not detail all those schemes, but they are exciting and they would generate growth, unlock housing and be good for road safety. They tick all the boxes.

The partners in the A47 Alliance have secured funding for some of these propositions already, and they are confident that they can go further and secure delivery locally. I recognise the case being made. The A47 is part of the strategic road network. Sections around Peterborough, Lynn and Norwich are all dual carriageway standard. Some elements of it are not. There have been previous and significant improvements to the A47, but it is fair to make the point that the previous Government curtailed a number of improvements that would have helped Norfolk: the Acle straight, the Blofield to North Burlingham dualling, the North Tuddenham to Easton and the East Wynch-Middleton bypasses all seemed to go the way of so many regional plans throughout the country—

[Mr Bacon]

The A140 was the same.

[Stephen Hammond]

Indeed—much talked about but seldom delivered. It is worth putting it on the record that the A47 Alliance rightly puts those proposals back into the package. They would be of great benefit.

My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk rightly recognises that we are developing route-based strategies as a way of analysis. Three are already being trialled. In considering major future enhancements to the network, we are looking to local authorities, local enterprise partnerships and other interested parties, including academic institutions and councils, to work together to assess the potential of their region by addressing not only the transport problems that they face, but the economic growth that would be unleashed if those transport problems and congestion were resolved.

It is right, as I stated in December and am happy to reaffirm this evening, that excellent work has been done by the A47 Alliance. That is ideally placed to be considered one of the earliest route-based strategies in the forthcoming programme, and I hope that it will be among the first one or two after the three that we are currently considering.

I conclude by thanking my hon. Friend for yet again making the case. I recognise absolutely the importance of the A47 and the economic improvements that it could bring. I am convinced that East Anglia is not a Cinderella region. I made that point when I was with my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk at the start of works for the A11 dualling. The interest from colleagues here on a Thursday evening shows how powerfully they are making the case for their constituencies, sometimes purposefully from the Back Benches and sometimes a little more mutedly by my hon. Friend the Member for Great Yarmouth.