Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend building regulations to ensure that all new developments are provided with facilities for recharging electric vehicles relating to each new dwelling in the development.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The government consulted in 2019 on options to amend the building regulations to require electric vehicle chargepoints in residential and non-residential buildings. We will publish a response, which will set out our plans for the new requirements coming into effect.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their current plans in relation to the Queensbury tunnel.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department agreed in July 2020 to fund two feasibility studies looking at options for the future of the tunnel. The first, led by Highways England, is examining what would need to be done and how much it would cost to return the tunnel to a safe and usable condition. The second, led by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, is looking at options for greenway routes between Bradford and Halifax, both including and excluding the tunnel, so that the relative costs and benefits of each can be considered. A steering group comprising the Department for Transport, Highways England, and the relevant local authorities is overseeing the studies, both of which are due to be complete by the spring and will inform any future decision on the future of the tunnel.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have established targets for the number of miles of railway line that will be reinstated for passenger use as part of the Restoring Your Railway Fund (1) within five years, and (2) within ten years; and what estimate they have made of the total length of reinstated lines, in miles, that will be achieved in those time periods.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The £500m Restoring Your Railway fund aims to start reopening lines and stations, reconnecting smaller communities, regenerating local economies and improving access to jobs, homes and education. No targets have been established for the number of miles of railway line that will be reinstated for passenger use and no estimate made of the total length of reinstated railway lines.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the allocation of £34 million to the scheme to restore passenger services to the Ashington–Blyth rail line, where the scheme lies within (1) the Rail Enhancement Schemes Pipeline and (2) the Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP) process.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 23rd January, the Government announced £34m for preparatory works to progress re-opening the Northumberland line to passengers. A Final Business Case is now being prepared by DfT, Northumberland County Council and Network Rail, with a view to seeking a ‘Decision to Deliver’ though the RNEP by the end of the year. The scheme is currently at stage 4 of the GRIP process.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the role of Highways England in maintaining disused railway structures; what assessment they have made of the efficacy of existing procedures relating to disused railway structures; and what plans they have to review such procedures.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In addition to its primary role as highway authority for the strategic road network in England, Highways England manages the Historical Railways Estate on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport across England, Scotland and Wales. Highways England’s existing procedures are designed to keep the public safe and are underpinned by what is the safest and most appropriate option for a given structure.
Although there are currently no plans to review existing procedures, this will be kept under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have provided (1) to local authorities, and (2) to returning officers, about the provision of polling stations at the elections on 6 May in polling districts where the usual polling stations cannot be used and where there are no available alternatives.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Democracy should not be cancelled because of covid. The Government has confirmed that the set of local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections scheduled for May will go ahead, and made a firm commitment that the Government will support the sector to deliver them.
The Government has published a clear Delivery Plan for the May elections, setting out how the Government will support local elections teams to deliver effective polls that are covid-secure for voters and staff.
Further guidance for all those involved in the elections will be available in due course and well in advance of the polls.
To support the smooth running of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections, there will be an estimated £92 million of government funding that will be provided to Returning Officers and local authorities for the elections. Of this, £31 million is an uplift to address costs associated with making the polls covid-secure.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the costs related to holding the elections on 6 May, including the additional costs of measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, will be refunded to local authorities.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Democracy should not be cancelled because of covid. The Government has confirmed that the set of local and Police and Crime Commissioner elections scheduled for May will go ahead, and made a firm commitment that the Government will support the sector to deliver them.
The Government has published a clear Delivery Plan for the May elections, setting out how the Government will support local elections teams to deliver effective polls that are covid-secure for voters and staff.
Further guidance for all those involved in the elections will be available in due course and well in advance of the polls.
To support the smooth running of the Police and Crime Commissioner and local elections, there will be an estimated £92 million of government funding that will be provided to Returning Officers and local authorities for the elections. Of this, £31 million is an uplift to address costs associated with making the polls covid-secure.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) availability, and (2) efficacy, of sustainable alternatives to the plastic tube tree guards that are used for planting young trees.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Plastic tree guards have been used for new woodland creation as they are highly effective in helping the establishment of new trees, which must be protected from deer and rabbits if they are to survive.
There are other options for protecting young trees including biodegradable tree guards, temporary fencing and wildlife management, but currently these options are less effective than plastic tree guards in deterring browsers, particularly Deer.
The forestry sector is carrying out work to develop, and trial more effective biodegradable tree guards and the aim should be to get to a place where these are used as a matter of course - the forthcoming England tree strategy will look at how to support this.
In the meantime, current practice demands that tree guards should be retrieved after they have reached a point where they are redundant. Plans to collect and recycle the tree guards have been introduced by a number of forestry institutions.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which their levelling-up agenda will require measures to reduce growth in (1) London, and (2) the South East, alongside measures to increase growth in other areas of the country.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
All regions and nations have an important role to play in the future prosperity of the country. As such, the government is committed to levelling up opportunity across the UK while also enhancing the UK’s existing strengths. This is why the Government continues to demonstrate its commitment to London and the South East, for example investing around £1.7 billion in 48 high-value projects through the Housing Infrastructure Fund, building ten new hospitals, and investing over £120 million from the Transforming Cities Fund in cities such as Southampton and Portsmouth. There are 5.9 million workforce jobs in London, and 22,000 civil service roles will be relocated out of London and the South East by 2030, as announced at Budget 2020.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming England Tree Strategy will include support for rewilding schemes based on natural regeneration in appropriate areas.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Natural regeneration has the potential to be a powerful and cost-effective approach for woodland creation when enabled on appropriate sites, as an alternative to or complementing conventional planting. We will publish more detail on our plans to support natural regeneration and colonisation to help create and expand our woodlands when we launch our England tree strategy in the spring.