Regional Transport Inequality

Adam Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) for securing this debate. She knows my constituency well, and will be familiar with many of the issues that I will raise.

Erewash is at the geographic and, dare I say, emotional heart of the east midlands— the halfway point between Derby and Nottingham. Long Eaton, which I represent, was scarcely on the map before the railways, and Ilkeston, like the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes), used to have its own tram. Those places are defined by industry and are inherently linked to public transportation, but by the middle of the 20th century, that legacy had been whittled away as all focus moved towards the car.

For 50 years, Ilkeston did not have a train station at all, but after years of cross-party campaigning, its new station opened in 2017. However, lots of people in Ilkeston tell me that the station has been a missed opportunity. Services are once per hour, meaning that it is not as attractive to commuters as it could be. Ilkeston is in Derbyshire, but passengers cannot even get a train to Derby from the station.

I am pleased, though, to hear discussion about the Maid Marian line again. That line would restore the link from Nottinghamshire to the Erewash valley line, perhaps enabling those new services connecting Mansfield and Derby to call at Ilkeston. At present, although the Erewash valley line bears my constituency’s name, it does not carry any local passenger services. If it were brought into more frequent use, maybe we could one day reopen the Stapleford and Sandiacre station. If we are dreaming, perhaps one day we could even bring back Draycott and Breaston station, too.

In many ways, Long Eaton was fortunate to keep its train station after the 1960s. The station has frequent services to many destinations, but there are still things that it notably lacks. The ramps up to the platform are very steep, and the lifts work only when the station is staffed, which presents real difficulties for my disabled constituents. The platform is too short, which can cause havoc for longer trains as only some doors can open.

Finally, let me address buses. The 21 bus used to link Ilkeston, Cotmanhay and Kirk Hallam directly with the Queen’s medical centre in Nottingham, one of our local major hospitals. Before the covid pandemic, the service was slashed to just once per hour, and afterwards it was slashed altogether. Now there are no direct buses from Ilkeston to the QMC, and for anyone trying to reach the hospital from Kirk Hallam by bus, it is a two-hour trip with at least two changes. It means getting a bus all the way into Derby before taking another bus, in the opposite direction, to Nottingham. It is madness.

[Samantha Niblett]

I am very familiar with my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I know that he was campaigning for good transport links way before he became an MP. On access to bus services, smaller villages such as Egginton in my South Derbyshire constituency are not served by a bus service at all. Does he agree that that truly ensures regional inequality across our country?

[Adam Thompson]

I agree completely with my hon. Friend. Indeed, for years the east midlands has languished, as my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North said in her opening remarks, on the bottom few rungs of the table for regional transport funding. I am glad that times are changing, however. The Treasury’s £2 billion commitment to transport in the east midlands earlier this year was bigger than I and colleagues in the region could ever have dreamed. I am so excited to see what transformation that investment will bring, and I will fight every day to ensure that Erewash sees the benefits of it.

If we are to have long-term change, the east midlands cannot rely on one-off awards, however. We need consistent investment, comprehensive planning reform, overhauled and empowered local government, and, in particular, changes to the Treasury rules to end the flat refusal to spend outside London and the greater south-east. Those are all positive prospects brought forward by this Government, and I look forward to seeing them become law.

[Several hon. Members rose—]