Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ease congestion arising from lorry traffic departing Dover.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Recent increase in traffic queues for freight and passenger travel in Kent was caused by a combination of factors. Disruption began because of adverse weather conditions causing delays to sailings from Port of Dover and the situation was significantly exacerbated by the well-documented actions of P&O Ferries which account for over 35% of the market share of Dover. Coupled with the brief cessation of Eurotunnel services due to a breakdown and an increase in passenger and freight traffic, disruption quickly grew in Kent.
The Kent Resilience Forum’s (KRF’s) traffic management and enforcement plans, including activation of Operation Brock on the M20, were put in place in late March to ensure continued flow of vehicles through Kent to ports whilst also trying to maintain local mobility as much as possible. Additional resilience measures were put in place, which had a positive impact on maintaining throughput to the ports and keeping local roads moving.
Over the May half-term and Jubilee Weekend, there was no significant disruption on the Kent strategic road network. Operation Brock has now been deactivated as of 5 June, but the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF) will reconsider deploying it ahead of the start of the school summer holidays.
To further ease congestion in Dover, we are strengthening enforcement against those hauliers deviating from Operation Brock and causing gridlock on local roads, and greater usage of freight parking capacity at Sevington Inland Border Facility and Ashford Truck Stop when Operation Brock is reaching its capacity. These measures will help to keep the M20 open to all vehicles and enable local and passenger traffic to keep flowing throughout Kent.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether an assessment has been made of the potential merits of extending the Thameslink service from Ebbsfleet to Essex to help reduce pressure from the Dartford crossing.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Ebbsfleet International is served by Southeastern and HS1, and I can confirm the Department has not assessed, nor has it asked Southeastern to investigate, the feasibility of running services from Ebbsfleet International to Essex.
Thameslink services do not serve Ebbsfleet International at present. This would only be possible with significant investment in infrastructure, as there is no railway currently connecting Ebbsfleet International to the Thameslink route.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the proposed sale of Tollgate Hotel Watling Street Gravesend Kent DA13 9RA to BP Oil UK Limited, what information his Department holds on proposals to re-market the property for sale as a result of the seven-year delay in BP securing planning on that site.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Highways England entered into a conditional contract with BP for the sale of Tollgate Hotel which was conditional on planning permission being granted for development. The planning applications submitted have been subject to a number of judicial reviews, which has delayed the sale. As a result, Highways England have now agreed with BP to move to an unconditional contract, which means the sale will no longer be dependent on gaining planning permission and Highways England will now be able to progress the sale.
Given that Highways England will be entering into a new unconditional contract with BP for the sale of the property, they have no plans to remarket at this time.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the sale of Tollgate Hotel Watling Street Gravesend Kent DA13 9RA to BP Oil UK Limited has been delayed.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Highways England entered into a conditional contract with BP for the sale of Tollgate Hotel that was conditional on planning permission being granted for development. The planning applications submitted have been subject to a number of judicial reviews, which have delayed the sale. As a result, Highways England have now agreed with BP to move to an unconditional contract; this means the sale will no longer be dependent on gaining planning permission, and Highways England will now be able to move forward with the sale.
Given that Highways England will be entering into a new unconditional contract with BP for the sale of the property, they have no plans to remarket it at this time.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the current safeguarding status in relation to Crossrail is of the land at Station house on the south side of Railway street, Northfleet, Kent, Title Number K972486.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Transport does not hold this information, nor does it manage enquiries about safeguarding along the route. More specific advice can be obtained by emailing a plan of the relevant site to Crossrail Limited at safeguarding@crossrail.co.uk.
The safeguarded route between Abbey Wood and Hoo Junction, including the area around Northfleet, is available on Crossrail Limited’s website at http://www.crossrail.co.uk/route/safeguarding/abbey-wood-to-hoo-junction.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the safeguarding route for Crossrail in the area around Northfleet, Kent.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The safeguarded route between Abbey Wood and Hoo Junction, including the area around Northfleet, is available on Crossrail Limited’s website at http://www.crossrail.co.uk/route/safeguarding/abbey-wood-to-hoo-junction.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether an assessment has been made of the potential effect on levels of congestion in Gravesham in the event that the (a) existing or (b) proposed new Lower Thames Crossings are heavily congested.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In developing its proposals for the Lower Thames Crossing, Highways England examined the impact of incidents on the operation of the Strategic Road Network, and the knock-on effects on the local road network.
These assessments will be further refined as the detailed design for the scheme takes shape.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect on levels of congestion at the Dartford Crossing after the construction of the proposed new Lower Thames Crossing.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Through traffic modelling and forecasting Highways England has made an assessment of the scheme’s potential effect on levels of congestion at the Dartford Crossing. This is reported in section 4 of the Post-Consultation Scheme Assessment Report Volume 5.
As the detailed design for the scheme progresses this will be subject to further assessment and an enhanced traffic model is being developed incorporating the latest travel demand data. This will be used to produce revised traffic volume and congestion forecasts for the local and wider road network, including the Dartford Crossing.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many responses to the Lower Thames Crossing Consultation were associated with a campaign by Higham Parish Council; and how many of those responses (a) answered all questions in the consultation, (b) answered a majority of questions in the consultation, (c) provided identical responses, (d) provided individually tailored responses, (e) were included in the analysis of individual bespoke responses to the consultation and (f) were not included in the analysis of individual bespoke responses to the consultation.
Answered by John Hayes
The analysis of consultation responses is available in the Ipsos MORI report published on 12 April 2017, the post-consultation Scheme Assessment Report and the Response to Consultation, available online at www.lower-thames-crossing.co.uk.
Highways England do not hold a breakdown of all figures specifically requested in each of these questions but have provided specific figures and breakdowns where this are available.
946 people were categorised as part of the Higham Parish Council campaign. Of those, 6 submitted identically worded responses for all questions and 940 participants provided a response based on this campaign which:
- included a partial version of the text with or without their own personal comments, or
- included the full version of this text plus additional personal comments.
Comments provided by participants were summarised and analysed along with other consultation responses.
Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many respondents to the Lower Thames Crossing Consultation (a) completed all questions, (b) completed more than half of the questions, (c) answered at least one question and (d) did not specifically answer consultation questions; and how many of those responses were categorised as (i) individual bespoke responses and (ii) organised campaign responses in each case.
Answered by John Hayes
Highways England do not hold a breakdown of the specific figures requested. The number of responses to each question which were answered via the questionnaire is provided in the Ipsos MORI report. Bespoke responses via letter or email generally did not answer specific questions or follow the format set out in the questionnaire.
Detail of the analysis of consultation responses is available in the Ipsos MORI report published on 12 April 2017, the post-consultation Scheme Assessment Report and the Response to Consultation, available online at www.lower-thames-crossing.co.uk.