National Bus Strategy: England

Richard Holden Excerpts

Monday 15th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the national bus strategy as another key spoke of the levelling up agenda alongside lifelong learning, the levelling-up fund and transport more generally. This is really about delivery, not dogma, and I am glad to see the options available for local authorities as well as the integrated and social nature of some of the funding available. Will the Secretary of State assure me that he will look at services in places in my constituency such as Burnhope and Weardale, which really need extra bus services later in the evenings, for potential pilot schemes?

[Grant Shapps]

One of the biggest points about buses is that people want to be able to get them in the evening and at the weekend. When people go somewhere to meet with somebody—those days will come again—buses should not just stop so they cannot get a bus home. That is exactly when they are needed to run. There is new hope for my hon. Friend’s constituents in Burnhope and Weardale in this bus strategy.

Aviation Sector

Richard Holden Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I absolutely agree, because this is not actually about our principal airports; it is about the regional airports, which are the cornerstone of their local economies. Heathrow airport will be there in 10 years’ time whatever happens, but we cannot say the same of our regional airports, which are facing a financial crisis as we go through this pandemic. We cannot expect it to be business as usual for the taxes they pay, the regulations they follow and so on. A sensible series of steps will have to be taken this autumn to ensure that those businesses are still here in a year’s time when this crisis begins to abate, as we all hope it will.

I also want to echo some of the comments of the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman). It is inevitable, sadly, that there will be job losses as a result of what is happening at the moment. I wish it were otherwise—we all wish it were otherwise—but it is not. However, it must also be the case that every airline should strain every sinew to ensure that they protect as many jobs as they can, because these are the people on whom those airlines and airports will depend as they seek to rebuild their business, hopefully in 2021. So my message to all those employers is: do what you have to do to keep your businesses afloat, so that there is still an employer there, but do not go beyond what you need to do to deliver that recovery. That would be absolutely the wrong thing to do in this incredibly difficult time for our country.

We must also consider the broader sector, because this is not just about airlines and airports. It is about a whole range of other businesses, including the suppliers to the aviation sector, the firms that make the planes, parts of planes and equipment at our airports, and the travel businesses, large and small, that depend on this sector.

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend is making an important point about the broader sector, because across the north of England and north Wales, a huge amount of the supply chain for the airline sector and the people who actually make the planes is really vulnerable at the moment, including Gardner Aerospace in my constituency, which is at risk of losing half its staff. So this is a really important point for the Government to take away from this: this is a much broader sectoral issue.

Income tax (charge)

Richard Holden Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

I would like to echo many of the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Aaron Bell) about the coronavirus outbreak. While there were measures in the Budget to provide increased and potentially unlimited funding for the NHS if required, we look forward to hearing more from the Chancellor today for our small and medium-sized businesses, charities, employees and employers, businesses of all types and schools and colleges—particularly in areas such as mine, where people often do not have the option of working from home, including those in the manufacturing sector and the tourism and leisure sector. This is also massively affecting our high streets, and I hope that specific measures will be brought forward to look after them. I urge Members and their communities to sign up to become Red Cross community reserve volunteers, which is a very effective way of getting involved in the local community, particularly if the coronavirus spreads as rapidly as one expects it to over the next few weeks.

Turning to the substance of the Budget, I echo the words of the hon. Member for Newport West (Ruth Jones) on the motorhome tax. She and I have both been campaigning on that and I am glad to see the Government move swiftly to reverse that measure, which would have done great damage to both our communities.

More broadly, I very much welcome the extra funding for 4G roll-out and high-speed broadband in constituencies such as mine with large rural communities. That will help us to compete in this new era, especially when so many of our homes and businesses are so far away from telephone exchanges. Full-fibre broadband will help them move into the 21st century.

I welcome the news on buses. Through the national bus strategy, I hope that some of my rural communities—those in Crook, Willington, Tow Law and Weardale—will be able to benefit from increased services, particularly later in the evening and at weekends, when many people struggle to get out and about if they do not have a car. I also welcome the extra cash for high streets and the reopening of the towns fund. My constituency did not get any of that money in recent years and the town of Consett and the villages in the south of my constituency are looking forward to working with Durham County Council to bid for that money.

Research and development is immensely important to my constituency, which lies just outside the university town of Durham. We are looking forward to getting cash in this area, particularly as some of the university’s facilities brush the edge of my constituency. We would like that extra money to help us to upskill the economy. I welcome the hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) saying that steel is not a sunset industry. We can certainly see that in north-east England, with the Mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, bringing back steelmaking to the region.

The more than £100 billion of investment in transport infrastructure, out of a total £640 billion on infrastructure over the next few years, is most welcome. We need to see our region tied into the major transport hubs across the north-east, and I hope that Consett and the surrounding area will get their connection over the next few years into Newcastle, so that we can be part of that growing and thriving city.

Before I finish, I want to pay tribute to some of the maiden speeches today. On election night, the victory of my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth Valley (Ian Levy) gave me the first indication that it was possible that I might be entering this place. I pay tribute to him and his wife Maureen for the welcome they have given me since I joined the House. I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra), who has joined me on the Public Accounts Committee. I look forward to working with him on investigations into how we spend taxpayers’ money.

The hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Ian Byrne) said that it is important that individuals and community groups are able to take on public authorities and the state when they feel that they have been threatened, such as in the Hillsborough situation. I commend those words and support him in that. My hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Miss Dines) spoke of the Prime Minister’s rough and tumble approach to politics. I am sure that she will be more than capable of dealing with the rough and tumble of this place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Holden Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2020 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to improve bus services in (a) rural and (b) other areas.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to encourage more frequent bus services.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps)]

Our £220 million better deal for bus users includes measures to improve bus services in rural and urban areas. This is together with the new £5 billion fund for overhauling bus and cycle links throughout the country.

[Mr Holden]

Towns such as Crook, Willington and Burnopfield in my constituency are starved of late evening and weekend bus services. What plans will the Government bring forward in the next few months to enable those areas to have better services?

[Grant Shapps]

As I mentioned, there is not only the £220 million fund, but the £5 billion fund, which will enable us to bring forward a comprehensive package of measures, which I hope will significantly boost Durham County Council’s current £347,000 towards the bus service operators grant.

--- Later in debate ---

[Grant Shapps]

As with the smart motorway point that I made a few moments ago, the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the need to get this right, and it has been the subject of several coroners’ reports. He will not have to wait very long and I do not think he will be disappointed.

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

T3. The A68 runs from the town of Darlington all the way up to Edinburgh and through five constituencies in the north of England, including mine. Given that 30% of its use is from heavy goods vehicles, will the Secretary of State consider Transport for the North’s recommendation that it becomes part of the strategic road network?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Kelly Tolhurst)]

My hon. Friend mentioned that briefly to me already, so I know that it is on his radar. It is important that all our roads are managed by the appropriate authority in the interests of road users and local communities, and I would be quite happy to meet my hon. Friend and the roads Minister.

Net Zero Targets and Decarbonising Transport

Richard Holden Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2020 Westminster Hall

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) on securing this debate. It is an interesting subject, and one that I had personal experience of not that long ago, when I was a special adviser in the Department for Transport.

I am proud that the Government have set the net zero target for 2050, and glad that today we saw two further moves in that direction: the 2035 target to stop new diesel and petrol vehicles, and the aviation sector moving towards net zero by 2050. Over the past couple of decades, it has been wonderful to see the UK at the forefront of the major developed economies of the world in slashing its carbon emissions, and I hope that that continues.

I will pick up on a few things, the first local to North West Durham. We are without any form of rail network at all. In order for my constituents to move towards decarbonised travel, we need better bus networks for our rural communities and in particular for Consett and the conurbations around it in the north of my constituency—one of the largest conurbations in the country without any form of rail access. I am campaigning for the Government to look at rail in the area there as part of their scheme to reopen lines.

Consett had four railway lines in 1950 but has none today. Rail is imperative not only for the environment but for productivity and to link Consett and the surrounding villages into the northern powerhouse. We need to be linked properly to the national rail network, whether by light or heavy rail.

[Alan Brown]

The hon. Gentleman is making a good point about the lack of rail connectivity in his constituency, and that is replicated pretty much across the UK. Does he agree that the UK Government’s £500 million Beeching replacement fund is totally inadequate to increase the rail connectivity required?

[Mr Holden]

The entire purpose of the fund, in my understanding, is for a couple of rail schemes that are almost ready to go and for an investigation into further schemes. I agree 100% that the fund will not put many lines back in place, but for that to happen they would have to be shovel-ready. The funding that the Minister is dealing with is to investigate and to conduct feasibility studies for a lot of those lines. I desperately hope that my line from Gateshead to Consett will be one of them.

My right hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire also made an important point about walking and cycling. The Derwent Walk replaced our rail line—as many Members know, when rail lines were dug up, they were often replaced by walking and cycling lanes. I am keen for those to be kept in place, so that the rail line has walking and cycling alongside it. That is important, because the car parks at stations are already clogged and overcrowded, as other hon. Members know if like me they commute from far away. As much as possible, I want people to walk and cycle to stations, to help move towards net zero, in particular as regards transport emissions.

In my constituency, too, we have a huge amount of new building. We are one of the fastest-growing parts of the north-east. I would like to see all new-build homes having electric charging points for cars, as mentioned. We have Nissan in the north-east, which I visited recently; it is making a massive move towards electric car production. Now that the Government have announced that they will introduce the target, it is important that new-build homes all have charging points in place.

My final point relates to vehicle excise duty; we need to ensure a stable system in the long term. Vehicle excise duty on motor homes, which are produced in my constituency, increased by 705% in September last year, from £260 to over £2,000. That means that it is less affordable to buy new motor homes, which obviously are cleaner and have Euro 6 engines. It will push people towards foreign flights and travel rather than domestic travel. In the UK, the average motor home travels between 3,000 and 6,000 miles. To tax it as a car is madness, and hurts domestic tourism to places such as Weardale in my constituency, other places across the north-east and other rural parts of the UK.

I urge the Minister to push his Treasury colleagues to look at these changes to vehicle excise duty, which came through last year from European Union regulation 2018/1832. VED has hit domestic manufacturing. The production of ever-cleaner motor homes creates 600 jobs in my constituency. It is incredibly important that we support the motor industry where we can, as well as our domestic tourism, to reduce international flights. That will contribute to exactly what we want to see: the decarbonisation of our transport economy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Holden Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend and pay tribute to him for his doughty campaigning for the reopening of that line. Members across the House should have received a letter inviting them to a Beeching event here in the House on 4 February at which they can find out how to apply for schemes in their constituencies.

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

My constituency has no rail line or dual carriageway. Does my right hon. Friend recognise the challenges facing communities such as mine, and will he support my campaign for better local bus services and a feasibility study into reopening the rail line from Consett to Newcastle?

[Grant Shapps]

I was delighted to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency to see that railway line. I absolutely support his ambition and look forward to seeing him at the Beeching meeting on 4 February.