Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the national speed limit on motorways from 70mph to 80mph on economic growth.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department has not undertaken any recent assessment on increasing the national speed limit from 70mph to 80mph.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what requirement there is on railway companies to provide alternative transport in the event of infrastructure failure; and if he will require South Western Railway to provide a timetable of rail replacement buses for passengers seeking to get to school, college and work until the landslide near Hook on the South Western mainline is fully repaired.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In the event of an emergency event of infrastructure failure, such as the landslide near Hook, the Department expects train operators to provide rail replacement services as soon as practically possible. The Department’s understanding is that there are significant issues in sourcing bus replacement services at short notice which is an issue across the industry.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to introduce enhanced technology-based track inspections to detect rail embankment subsidence before landslides occur.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail, as the infrastructure manager of Britain’s railways, continue to review and update the monitoring techniques they use to detect precursors for earthwork failures on railway embankments they manage. These enhancements are informed by geotechnical experts and include increasing the use of remote sensing, photogrammetry, CCTV, distributed acoustic sensing and inclinometers. These are among other tools to enable Network Rail engineers to target measures to reinforce slopes, add protection and improve resilience in the long term.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will (a) investigate the causes of the landslide near Hook on the South Western mainline as a matter of urgency and (b) ensure works are undertaken to prevent similar events from occurring in future nearby.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Network Rail will be undertaking a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the landslip at Hook. My officials have asked for the output of that review and a clear plan to implement any recommendations to ensure that these extremely disruptive weather-related incidents are kept to an absolute minimum.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the lost capacity in the road network from dual carriageways with two lanes that have been narrowed to a single lane by road markings or by any other means (a) since 1997 and (b) in any other period for which he holds data.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In England traffic authorities have powers under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, to regulate, restrict or prohibit the use of the highway for a wide range of safety and environmental reasons.
It is for individual local authorities to decide on the nature and scope of their traffic management schemes, and to balance the needs of residents, emergency services, local businesses, and those who work in and visit those areas.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of the freight bottleneck at (a) Bramley in Hampshire and (b) along the Basingstoke to Reading branch line.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
A major upgrade to transport more freight by rail to and from Southampton Port unlocking more capacity at the country’s second busiest container port was completed last year. Network Rail are considering the challenges for freight on the corridor with infrastructure assessments taking place at Basingstoke which is a follow up piece of work to the joint Network Rail/National Highways Solent to Midlands study. The output of this work could inform a decision to initiate further schemes into the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP).
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to make sure that the noise impacts of airports are appropriately assessed and action taken.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government sets noise-related restrictions at the noise-designated airports (Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted) and ensures these airports assess their noise impacts on an annual basis. For these designated airports, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) produces noise exposure contours. These inform Government of areas significantly affected by aircraft movements, and therefore those communities most likely to suffer aircraft noise-related health outcomes, which should be prioritised by policy interventions.
At other airports, restrictions are set locally, usually through the planning system. It is the responsibility of the local planning authority to conduct any necessary noise assessment and to enforce any restrictions.
Major airports with more than 50,000 movements per year are also obliged under the Environmental Noise Regulations 2006, as amended, to produce noise maps and Noise Action Plans. Current Noise Action Plans cover the period 2019-2023, while the next round of planning will cover the period 2024-2028.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment on the variation in railway passenger numbers on different weekdays; and if he will make it his Department's policy to mandate train companies to introduce a different timetable with more capacity on the days with more passengers.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Industry is already running more trains on working days, when more passengers are likely to travel to and from work, and on Saturdays, when many passengers use the railway for leisure. The train operating companies will use the December 2022 timetable change to make significant changes to the national timetable to improve the service passengers receive, and continue to tailor their offer to demand. These changes are intended to improve performance for passengers and provide services that respond to current passenger demand and suit the needs of local communities.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his Department's policy not to outlaw the production or purchase of vehicles without speed limiters.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
There are no plans to mandate speed limiters for cars, although they continue to be required for heavy goods vehicles and larger passenger carrying vehicles.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving licence applications (a) have been and (b) are yet to be processed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency from people in North East Hampshire constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Information on the number of driving licence applications processed or awaiting processing is not held by Parliamentary constituency or region.