Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will meet the hon. Member for Oldham West and Royton and local authority officials to discuss the proposal for an Ashton Loop Line and Middleton Spur extension to Greater Manchester's Metrolink tram system.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
If the hon Member contacts my departmental office I would of course be happy to consider his request in the normal way.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Government capital projects (a) have been carried out in the last and (b) are planned over the next five years in Greater Manchester; and what the (i) cost and (ii) location was and will be for each such project.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government has supported a wide range of capital projects in Manchester. This includes: £533m committed to Greater Manchester through the Local Growth Fund, which will support projects such as the new Ashton town centre interchange; a £900m gainshare agreement as part of the Devolution Deal, which will support projects such as the Trafford Metrolink extension; £199m as part of the city deal over ten years for local major transport schemes; £78m for the Factory theatre and arts venue at Spending Review 2015; and £235m for the Sir Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials research at the 2014 Autumn Statement. Greater Manchester will also benefit from the North of England Rail Infrastructure programme, which is worth over £1bn.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the per capita spending was on transport projects in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
a) Data on spend per head on transport projects is not available at the level of Greater Manchester.
However, Greater Manchester has benefitted from significant transport investment over the last five years, for example, £140.8 million of Integrated Transport Block funding, £143.2 million for Highways Maintenance (2010-11 to 2014-15), £32.5 million from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund for the ‘Let’s Get to Work’ scheme, £32.49 million for the Manchester Cross City Bus Package (due for completion in November 2016) and £44m announced in July 2014 as part of the Local Growth Fund for 12 new light rail vehicles on Metrolink.
(b) Spend per head on transport in London for the last five available years was as follows:
Identifiable expenditure on transport in London 2009-10 to 2013-14
Type of expenditure | 2009-10 outturn | 2010-11 outturn | 2011-12 outturn | 2012-13 outturn | 2013-14 outturn |
Total expenditure | |||||
Per head (£) | 747 | 660 | 597 | 479 | 511 |
Capital expenditure | |||||
Per head (£) | 448 | 413 | 362 | 301 | 332 |
Current expenditure | |||||
Per head (£) | 300 | 247 | 235 | 178 | 180 |
Source: HM Treasury Country and Regional Analysis, 2014
Spending on London’s transport networks benefits not just London residents but commuters and others travelling into London. London is the biggest city in the UK and a global capital. 850,000 commuters come into London per working day, and there are about 4 billion passenger journeys every year.
The figures in recent years can be skewed by capital projects with uneven patterns of expenditure such as Crossrail and Thameslink (which also create jobs elsewhere).