Rail Services: Devon

Steve Darling Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I congratulate the hon. Member for Exeter (Steve Race) on securing the debate. This is an extremely important issue for the people of Devon and the south-west of England.

Although issues with our rail services have been ongoing for many years across the south-west—mostly because of a lack of investment in public services from the previous Conservative Government—we have a new threat and challenge from the works that are being undertaken, as hon. Members have extremely ably pointed out so far, at Old Oak Common and the delays that we have seen there. In my many years of service to the people of Torbay as a local authority member, I have been somewhat sceptical of HS2 and the estimated £65 billion that it will cost, when we in the south-west have real challenges with the resilience of our network, particularly at the pinch point of Dawlish and when trains get to Cornwall, over the Tamar, and can go only at 65 mph. Our network is really challenged.

To go back to the issue of Old Oak Common, the fact that the section of HS2 between Old Oak Common and Euston will cost £6.5 billion is astounding. The mitigation of £30 million that I understand may well be on the table for the impact of Old Oak Common on the south-west is a drop in the ocean compared with the overall costs of the whole HS2 project.

I reflect on this as well: the south-west resilience project has cost the national taxpayer in the region of £150 million. The final part of the scheme is the Dawlish rail resilience programme, which will probably cost the same again, but that is small change compared to the cost of the big project that is HS2, and it calls into question the levels of mitigation. I am keen for my constituents in Torbay, and people in the greater part of Devon and Cornwall, to see us sorting out Dawlish and investing to save in the longer term.

I would highlight that one essential of travelling by train is the provision of a toilet. Now, our modern equivalent is probably having good access to the internet. We would not get on a train without a toilet, yet we have poor internet connection across Devon and the Great Western Railway network. I am well aware that there is an oven-ready scheme, good to go, that was raised with and acknowledged by the Minister a few weeks ago. That could be a really helpful way of mitigating the challenges that we face with the delays in relation to Old Oak Common, and making sure that people can be productive; my understanding, from research that I have done, is that we are looking at people in the UK having half the levels of internet access that our continental cousins have.

As the Member for Torbay, I want to be a bit parochial at this point and highlight the final piece of the Devon metro system, which is a very fine Devon county council plan. The final piece lies in my constituency, at Edginswell railway station. This is part of the town deal regeneration programme, which is extremely important for a couple of reasons: it supports a business park and regeneration in one of the most deprived parts of the south-west peninsula, which is sadly my constituency; and it helps our NHS.

We need to see investment in our health services, particularly Torbay hospital, including to ensure that there is sufficient accommodation for NHS employees. Part of that is about regenerating Paignton town centre so that those people can stay in Paignton, jump on a train and be dropped off at Edginswell, almost on the doorstep of a renewed Torbay hospital. That is joined-up government. I hope that the Minister will reflect on Edginswell, because I understand that the funding may have been withdrawn in the last few days—but, to me, the crucial part is supporting Dawlish and phase 5 of the rail resilience programme, because that will support the rest of the south-west peninsula.