Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the evidential basis is for the decision that if Mobile Batching Concrete Plants (MCBPs) continue to operate outside standard legal gross vehicle weight limits it would create an enduring regulatory discrepancy between businesses competing in the same market when operators of barrel mixers are free to purchase and operate MCBPs as many already do.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The standard legal gross weight limits, applicable to large vehicles, including MCBP, are not a regulatory discrepancy. Creating a specific, enduring regime for MCBP would have allowed these vehicles to be operated legally at higher gross weights than barrel mixers.
The decision to establish a 10-year temporary arrangement enabling mobile concrete batching plant to operate in excess of standard weight limits is to provide time for the operators of these vehicles to come into compliance with the currently-applicable legal limits, which also apply to barrel concrete mixers.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his announcement of 5 April 2018, what the evidential basis is for his Department’s decision that fair competition would be sustained in the wet concrete market industry when Mobile Batching Concrete Plants (MCBPs) will have their payloads reduced, on average by 35%, to below the payloads currently carried by Barrel Concrete Mixers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department has put in place a 10-year temporary arrangement enabling some mobile concrete batching plant to operate in excess of standard weight limits to provide time for the operators of these vehicles to come into compliance with the currently-applicable legal limits, which also apply to barrel concrete mixers.
At the end of that temporary period, there will be common weight limits across different modes of concrete delivery, helping to facilitate fair competition. The Department is aware that there are different maximum legal payloads for different vehicle types, due to differing unladen weights.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his letter of 10 March 2017 which stated that VSOs would be valid up to 2032, for what reason his announcement of 5 April 2018 decided to institute a temporary weight regime for a period of 10 years with a cut off for new registrations to the end of December 2018.
Answered by Jesse Norman
An official letter to the Batched on Site Association dated 10 March 2017 summarised an option for a temporary arrangement to 2032. No commitments were made about what arrangements would be put in place following a final ministerial decision.
Following a request for wider stakeholder views in December 2017, the Department decided that a 10-year period, running until to 2028, would provide the industry with a reasonable timeframe to come into compliance with the standard legal limits. The arrangements are designed to assist operators of most of the current fleet of vehicles. The December 2018 date is intended to enable the small number of vehicles that were already under manufacture at the time of the decision also to benefit from the arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his announcement of 5 April 2018, for what reasons his Department decided not to amend regulations to permit Mobile Batching Concrete Plants (MCBPs) to continue to operate outside standard legal gross vehicle weight limits after the inclusion of MCBPs within statutory goods vehicle testing from 20 May 2018.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The inclusion of mobile concrete batching plant, alongside a number of other formerly-exempt vehicles types, in statutory goods vehicle testing from 20 May 2018 does not change the legal weight limits applicable to these vehicles.
The ‘special types’ rules, which permit certain vehicle types to operate outside the standard weight limits, are generally used to enable the carriage of equipment and indivisible loads which for engineering reasons cannot feasibly comply with the standard rules, and not because of economic or financial considerations. To apply these rules to divisible loads would represent a significant departure from precedent, could lead to demands for other vehicle types to be afforded similar treatment and therefore would require an exceptionally compelling case. There is little to suggest that mobile batching plant, which carries a divisible load, cannot be feasibly operated within the standard legal weight limits.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Hon Member for Hereford, the Transport Minister, plans to respond to the letter sent to him by the Batched on Site Association on 25 April 2018; and if he will place a copy of that response in the Library.
Answered by Jesse Norman
I am arranging for a copy of the letter to be placed in the Library.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the operation of London Zoo of the proposal by High Speed 2 Ltd to use the Zoological Society of London's car park.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The High Speed Rail (London to West Midland) Act 2017, as approved by Parliament, includes the provision of a lorry holding area (LHA) on the southern part of London Zoo’s cark park.
The impacts of the proposed LHA on London Zoo were considered as part of the Parliamentary process. The House of Commons and House of Lords Select Committees both considered, but ultimately rejected the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) proposals for the LHA to be relocated.
However, HS2 Ltd remain committed to seeking to mitigate the impacts of the LHA on the operation of London Zoo. HS2 Ltd has offered to work with ZSL to optimise the remaining area of the car park to suit their requirements, as far as is reasonably practicable. In addition, an assurance has been provided to ZSL that HS2 Ltd will seek to reduce or obviate the impacts of the LHA, as far as is reasonably practicable, during the detailed design stage.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposal by HS2 Ltd to use the Zoological Society of London's car park on the safety of schoolchildren and others visiting London zoo.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The High Speed Rail (London to West Midland) Act 2017, as approved by Parliament, includes the provision of a lorry holding area (LHA) on the southern part of London Zoo’s cark park. An off-street lorry holding area (LHA) is required to manage the impacts of HS2 construction traffic on the central London highways. The provision of an LHA is recommended by Transport for London and considered essential to enable effective traffic management in a built up area such as Euston.
In considering locations for an LHA, HS2 Ltd undertook a sift process where alternative locations were examined for the LHA. None of the alternatives were deemed preferable to the London Zoo car park, as they were either further away from Euston or would have had greater environmental or local community impacts, including in relation to school children and other pedestrians.
The safety of pedestrians, cyclists and other road users is integral to the HS2 traffic management plans that will be implemented upon the establishment of such sites. The LHA at ZSL is designed so that will be segregated from the remaining car park with secure hoarding. In addition, a new access will be provided for construction traffic, to prevent the interaction of construction vehicles and vehicles transporting visitors to the zoo via the existing car park entrance. A new pedestrian crossing will also be provided.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with (a) HS2 Ltd and (b) the Zoological Society of London on the proposal to use London Zoo's car park as a lorry park for heavy goods vehicles.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The High Speed Rail (London to West Midland) Act 2017, as approved by Parliament, includes the provision of a lorry holding area (LHA) on the southern part of London Zoo’s cark park. The LHA is required for traffic management purposes to regulate the flow of construction traffic to the HS2 Euston construction worksite.
The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Andrew Jones MP), met with representatives of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in April 2017, where they presented updated proposals for the relocation the LHA. Following the meeting, the Minister commissioned HS2 Ltd to undertake a study to consider ZSL’s proposals. The outcomes of this study, which are expected shortly, will be shared with ZSL.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support the connectivity of regional airports to High Speed 2.
Answered by Andrew Jones
High Speed 2 will transform our country’s railways and airport connectivity. As part of Phase One, there will be access to Birmingham Airport via a high capacity people mover at Birmingham Interchange, and excellent links to Heathrow via direct train links at Old Oak Common. Phase Two will further improve regional airport connectivity, with a dedicated HS2 station to Manchester Airport. The new HS2 station at Toton will allow easy access to East Midlands airport.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the Department's total budget will be spent on cycling between 2015 and 2020.
Answered by Andrew Jones
This Government has trebled spending on cycling and making cycling safer. Estimated Government investment in walking and cycling until 2019-20 is over £1billion. This includes funding for Cycling Ambition Cities, Highways England, schemes already committed in the Local Growth Fund and a portion of the Integrated Transport Block based on previous trends. It does not include the funding to be allocated through the latest round of the Local Growth Fund.
The department’s budget has also increased to spend record amounts of investment to upgrade road and rail, the biggest investment in a generation, and cycling schemes benefit from this investment.