Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Michelle Donelan(7 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr McLoughlin
We are accused of kicking something into the long grass, but I have said that I hope to see a decision by the end of the year, and Opposition Members have not yet expounded which option they actually support.
Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)
9. What steps he has taken to increase the number of tourists travelling by rail.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Michelle Donelan(8 years, 4 months ago)
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Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)
22. Having visited my constituency a number of times, the Secretary of State will know that the specific and complicated problem of traffic congestion in Bradford on Avon is having a significant impact on business and residents. Can he suggest a way of dealing with it?
Mr McLoughlin
I visited Bradford on Avon with my hon. Friend earlier this year, and I know that she is right about the traffic congestion in the town. I should be more than happy to meet her, along with my hon. Friend the roads Minister, to discuss in detail what we could do to help, but this is, in the main, a matter for Wiltshire council.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Michelle Donelan(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr McLoughlin
I am always willing to learn lessons from wherever they are valid, be that Scotland or anywhere else, although I will not be looking to Scotland for advice on providing tram systems. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, the hon. Lady was in a position to hear the evidence from both Mark Carne and the permanent secretary to the Department. Some of the costs of such electrification programmes have run over budget. That is not acceptable, but they are huge and very important schemes. I think that regenerating our railway system and making it modern for the 21st century is very important.
Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)
With regard to the value for money of the Great Western main line, does the Secretary of State agree that electrification is just one of the factors that makes reopening Corsham station a more viable project and one that needs to remain high on the agenda?
Mr McLoughlin
I am sure that that will remain high on the agenda as long as my hon. Friend continues to press for it. I know that she has met the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Claire Perry), to press the case. I look forward to discussing it with the rail Minister to see whether we can help my hon. Friend to get what she wishes.