Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to (a) tackle traffic congestion and (b) improve public transport in Stafford.

Tackling congestion and improving public transport are key priorities for this Government and as such the Government has taken several steps which will benefit Stafford, including:

· Providing £4.2m from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, between 2011 and 2015, to address peak hour congestion in Stafford, encouraging commuters to make more sustainable travel habits and reduce car use. Staffordshire County Council will also receive £985k in revenue grant in 2015/16 for a project that includes further bus interchange and rail network enhancements, and service information improvements.

· Providing £1.7m from the Local Pinch Point Fund for the Beacon Business Park scheme, Stafford, which aimed to ease congestion at the A518 Weston Road/ Blackheath Lane junction.

· Staffordshire County Council, as the relevant Transport and Highway Authority, has also received £76.906m for Highways Maintenance funding over the period 2011/12 -2014/15. This included funding through the Pothole Fund and weather recovery and £19.769m of Integrated Transport Block Funding.

· Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership has also secured £82.3m from the Government’s Local Growth fund to support economic growth in the area – with £13.6m of funding confirmed for 2015-16. This includes £24.3m towards the Stafford Western Access Route which aims to reduce traffic congestion into and around Stafford town centre.

· Announcing a direct award contract with West Coast Trains Limited (Virgin) in June 2014 that will run for 2 years 9 months up to April 2017. The new contract will bring £35 million worth of passenger benefits, including increased car parking at Stafford.