Leagrave Station: Step-free Access

Debate between Sarah Owen and Ben Spencer

Monday 9th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Owen]

Madam Deputy Speaker, I have good genes, but I would have to have extraordinarily good genes to see that to fruition. The hon. Gentleman makes a really good point. Progress is far too slow. For many people, train journeys are just completely out their reach, and that should not be the limit of our aspirations, quite frankly.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving way in this very important debate. This issue affects constituencies across the country, including mine—we have problems at Weybridge station. May I draw to her attention my new clause 69 to the Railways Bill, which sets out a requirement for an accessibility strategy that the Government have to report on? I have intervened on her now, but I hope to intervene on the Minister later for his comment on that.

[Sarah Owen]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I would want to look at the detail of any amendment along those lines, but yes, in principle we absolutely need a strategy. I think many people would understand that this is not something where we click our fingers and it happens overnight, but we need to be travelling on this journey together—excuse the pun—because we cannot be saying that public transport is out of bounds if someone is unable to walk up and down stairs, it is out of bounds for a parent with a pushchair, or it is out of bounds if someone has an unruly child, as I do, who does not necessarily do as they are told, and they are absolutely terrified of using the stairs. In many cases, those staircases, as I will come on to talk about, are in utter disrepair and in a shocking state.

In Luton North we can take advantage of our close links to the capital to travel to work, see friends and family, or head to the airport on holiday. Some people do have holidays—not necessarily all of us—and many people use Luton airport to go on holiday, travel to work, and see friends and loved ones. We should be enabling everybody, not just those travelling from London on Thameslink, but those travelling from Bedford and every station in between, to go to Luton airport by train.

For anyone who cannot use stairs—wheelchair users, or people with heavy luggage, prams or pushchairs—two main platforms cannot be accessed at all. I have to say that it is a sick joke that our station is listed as semi-disabled access friendly, when in fact any train heading north from Leagrave stops at a platform that cannot be accessed step-free. So, if you are coming back from London or heading to Bedford, you have no choice but to use those stairs or a different station. I do not believe that any station that is accessible only on some platforms can be called accessible in any description whatsoever.

I have been campaigning to get lifts at Leagrave station since I was first elected in 2019, and then heavily pregnant with my daughter. When she was born, like every other parent who uses Leagrave station, I tackled those steep steps with a pram. There was always a member of the public there willing to help, because that is just how Luton is, but we should not have to rely on the kindness of strangers to ensure that we can get our children up and down those stairs safely. Then, when she was a toddler, as I described, I nervously held her hand up and down those really dangerous stairs. I see parents do that every day, battling with those unsafe stairs, to the extent that I took the former Rail Minister to see Leagrave station for himself. He was shocked to see the state of it. I also took my child with me so that he could see how impossible it is to navigate safely for someone with a pram, a small child or any difficulty with accessibility whatsoever.

There were moments of hope, and I thought we had made progress. However, I have to say that I reflect every single constituent in Luton North in being incredibly frustrated with being so close to seeing lifts at Leagrave station, only to have that cruelly snatched away from us. I understand that there are financial pressures facing the Government, but people in Luton North deserve an accessible railway, so I have some questions for the Minister.

Since 2019, I have pushed successive Governments on this issue. I hosted Huw Merriman, the former Rail Minister, and secured a Network Rail feasibility study into lifts, which was carried out in 2023. The study, which required significant investment from the council, went into huge detail on the exact design needed to deliver lifts at the station. In May 2024, the Conservative Government announced that Leagrave had been approved for Access for All funding, but now we have discovered that the money never existed and the projects were never properly funded. Can the Minister tell me, Luton council and my constituents why the existence of this major feasibility study does not seem to have factored in the final decision not to advance Leagrave station in this stage of AfA funding?

I understand also that the decision on whether to advance stations was made on the basis of the availability of third-party funding. Leagrave serves a large community but, unlike more affluent areas, it does not benefit from a single large business or wealthy potential sponsors in its vicinity. Discussions with third-party supporters are ongoing, but I would welcome further collaboration with the Minister and his Department on how we can facilitate those negotiations.

The Equality Act 2010 and the public sector equality duty both put duties on Network Rail and train companies to ensure that people with disabilities are able to access the railway. The Government are encouraging people with disabilities into work but are making a major way of accessing employment inaccessible for people who want to get to work. How does that square with our Labour Government’s priorities of ensuring that people who want to work can physically get into work in the same way as everyone else?

Currently, anyone coming from the south who needs step-free access to Leagrave station must call ahead to book a taxi from Luton Airport Parkway, meaning that what is seven minutes on the train could become 45 minutes in Luton traffic—I kid you not, Minister: getting in a car to drive from one end of Luton to the other, instead of taking the train, can take up to an hour in heavy traffic. While Luton is famous for many wonderful things, including our football team, our traffic congestion is possibly what I am least happy for it be famous for. Network Rail and Thameslink do their best to facilitate arrangements for disabled passengers, but, as I am sure the Minister will agree, this is not ideal in terms of either the cost for passengers or the length of travel time.

There are lots of positive reasons why Leagrave station should be invested in, given all the opportunities that this Government are presenting to our town. We are part of the Oxford-Cambridge growth arc and will soon have Universal Studios in Bedford, although I will not be going on any of the rollercoasters—I would just be happy to get on an accessible train, to be honest. We also have the Luton airport expansion and Goodman taking over the Vauxhall site. All of these are positive markers for investment in our town, but local people have to feel the investment for themselves, too. The Minister present is the Minister for Aviation, so can he tell me how he hopes to achieve Luton airport’s expansion goals for public transport use if the north of our town cannot access the airport step-free? Can he also say when, if we had match funding tomorrow, would be the earliest date we could get spades in the ground?

To conclude, I am not giving up on campaigning for lifts at Leagrave station—I will continue banging on about this every time I visit the station and it is not as good as the people of Luton North deserve. I know the Minister will understand that I must continue to push for my constituents to get the step-free access they deserve. I am nothing but persistent.

It is welcome that the Government are putting money into communities such as ours in Luton North. Between the Pride in Place funding, a fairer council settlement, big projects such as the airport expansion and Universal Studios, Luton is now getting the love we have not had for a long time. However, that is also why it is so important that we follow through on projects such as lifts for Leagrave—to show residents in areas like mine that towns like Luton deserve investment in our transport and infrastructure. I look forward to continuing to work with the Department for Transport over the next few years to ensure that we get the step-free access that my constituents deserve.

Ukraine

Debate between Sarah Owen and Ben Spencer

Tuesday 15th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

My constituents and I have watched the plight of Ukrainians in horror. We have witnessed the appalling actions of Putin and Russia, the murder of civilians, senseless bloodshed to satisfy a man’s historical grievance. People often try to make sense of evil actions by ascribing them to some form of mental illness—lunacy, insanity, not thinking rationally—rather than confronting the sad truth that evil actions are performed by evil men. Levelling cities, forcing women and children in their millions to flee, lying and lying while watching one’s own country and its citizens become impoverished—that is not insanity; it is evil. It is often said that liberty is not free and peace comes at a price, but central to peace is a commitment to the rule of law. Evil men and evil deeds must be countered, condemned and criminalised, and the perpetrators must be convicted.

I strongly support the UK’s approach in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine—the supply of defensive weapons, the sanctions, the humanitarian aid and our refugee response—and I want to speak briefly about the last two of those.

I support the UK embargo on Russian oil and gas. It cannot be right that as we heat our homes and fill our cars and trucks, we are bankrolling the Russian war machine, but we need to go further and faster: we need to stop dead the imports of Russian war fuel. Someone said that the current situation demonstrates why we cannot pursue net zero. I strongly believe that it shows the opposite. Never has it been more important to have clean, domestic energy and to be dependent on no one else but ourselves. Imagine if we had that now. I am reminded of the saying that the best time to plant a tree is 50 years ago, but the second best time is today. This is why we need to crack on with expanding renewables and nuclear and supporting UK gas and oil during this transition period to clean domestic energy production.

Turning to the humanitarian response and our support for refugees, the people of Runnymede and Weybridge stand ready and willing to help. As always, our community response and the incredible offers of help have been amazing. It is not surprising that my constituents have come forward in such a way to support Ukrainians, as was seen just a couple of weeks ago at the “Stand with Ukraine” rally in Weybridge. I welcome the recent Homes for Ukraine announcement. I am concerned however, that the most vulnerable refugees may end up being disenfranchised. It strikes me that there is a danger that the system may be easier to go through for Ukrainian refugees who are more internationalist or who speak English. It is important that the scheme is monitored carefully as it is rolled out, enhanced and changed, to ensure that we support all refugees, not just people who have particular strengths in personal advocacy.

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

The hon. Member is making a powerful speech. On that note, we have heard throughout this debate that the Ukrainian refugees coming to the UK will be some of the most vulnerable, including older people, children and, especially, unaccompanied children. Is it not important that we ensure that the people offering their homes are fully vetted to ensure that they are providing a genuine safe haven for people fleeing a war zone?

[Dr Spencer]

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. Just yesterday, I asked the Secretary of State to ensure that there was not only historical vetting but ongoing support for the people and the families who open their homes, to ensure that no one takes advantage of people’s vulnerability. Of course, there is always going to be a balance, and we need to crack on and get people over here as soon as possible, but the hon. Lady is right to say that ongoing safeguarding is a critical issue.

I worry that we will see even more huge movements of people. That is inevitable, and we need to strongly support dispersing people from Poland, where they are struggling. I repeat my call to work with our European allies to do this and, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) said, to tackle the people smugglers and support the most vulnerable refugees. As we watch the horror and bloodshed in Ukraine and the murder of our fellow human beings, our brothers and sisters, we are all hurting. We want to do more and we want to see it stop, but the future is murky. Each path forward is beset with challenge and danger. Where is the golden bridge for Putin and Russia? I hope and pray that it is found soon, but if anyone can find it, President Zelensky can.