Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing the transport industry with assistance towards investment in greener trucks.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Decarbonising transport is a key priority for the government and we have just published our world-leading plan, “Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain’ which outlines our commitments to decarbonise transport, including the road freight sector, and achieve net zero by 2050.
We are supporting the transport industry to invest in greener trucks through a wide range of measures. This includes £20m this year to develop Zero Emission Road Freight Trials which will support UK industry to develop cost-effective, zero-emission HGVs and their refuelling infrastructure in the UK. Trials will invest in research, innovation and construction of zero emission HGVs by UK based business and SMEs to support the development of cutting-edge HGV technology, breaking down barriers to adoption and speeding up the decarbonisation of our road freight sector.
Government supports transport industry investment in low emission trucks through the £23 million Hydrogen for Transport Programme, which funds the deployment of hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations. The £20m Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition matched capital funding to projects that produced low carbon waste-based fuels to be used in aeroplanes and HGVs and the £20 million Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial supported industry-led R&D projects trialing low-emission technologies for freight.
Finally, Government is providing £582 million to continue the plug-in grants.
The plug-in truck grant (PiTG) encourages the uptake of cutting-edge, zero emission HGVs by reducing the purchase price of zero emission commercial vehicles. From March 2021 the PiTG was increased to 20% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £25,000, for large trucks greater than 12 tonnes. The grant rate was increased in recognition of the higher upfront cost of these vehicles.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase disability access at train stations in (a) Morley and Outwood constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Several stations across Yorkshire were selected for the Access for All Main Tier programme, including Menston, Todmorden and Garforth stations. Works are due to be completed at these stations by 2024 at the latest.
We will shortly be commissioning accessibility audits of all mainline stations that will allow us to prioritise future investment in station accessibility.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage cycling over other modes of transport for short length journeys in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In 2020/2021 West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) was awarded £12,566,000 from the Active Travel Fund to aid delivery of safe walking and cycling routes in the area, such as protected space for cycling, widened pavements, safer junctions and cycle and bus-only corridors.
In June 2021 the Department invited WYCA to bid for active travel capital funding for the current financial year, with decisions to be made in the autumn. Announcements on local authority revenue funding for behaviour change activities this year will be made shortly.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the safety of train stations for people with disabilities.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department is committed to improving safety across the rail network. The Department expects the industry to meet current accessibility requirements whenever it installs, renews or replaces station infrastructure. Failure to do so can lead to enforcement action by the Office of Rail and Roads.
As well as the programme of accessibility improvements underway, we shall be bidding for further rounds of funding for Access for All schemes in the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points in (a) Morley and Outwood constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Government and industry have supported the installation of almost 25,000 publicly available charging devices and in the next few weeks expect to hit the important milestone of rapid chargers being available in 3,000 different locations across the UK – one of the largest networks in Europe.
We are investing £1.3 billion in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure over the next four years, targeting support on rapid chargepoints on motorways and major roads, and installing more on-street chargepoints near homes and workplaces to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car. Our grant schemes and the £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund will see thousands more electric vehicle charge-points installed across the UK.
Leeds City Council have participated in our On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme which is available to all UK local authorities to provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking. They have received £97,500 to install 15 chargepoints across the city, including in the Morley area.
As of 1 April 2021, Morley and Outwood:
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles is working extensively with local authorities to support them in delivering charging infrastructure.
The upcoming EV chargepoint Infrastructure Strategy will set out our vision and action plan for charging infrastructure rollout needed to achieve the 2030/35 phase out of petrol and diesel cars and vans successfully and to accelerate the transition to a zero emission fleet. The strategy will also set expected roles for different stakeholders and how government will intervene to address the gaps between the current market status and our vision.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase transport infrastructure in (a) Leeds and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As part of its Levelling Up agenda, the Government is committed to improving transport connectivity in the North. We have recently announced a share of £15m for two new rail stations at White Rose and Thorpe Park in Leeds from the New Stations Fund and £173.5m from the Department has been used to support Leeds’ Public Transport Investment Programme (LPTIP) which has delivered significant improvements, including the UK’s first fully solar powered park and ride site opening in September.
This is in addition to the £317m that we are providing to the wider West Yorkshire region through our Transforming Cities Fund and the £49.6m provided in 2021/22 to support highway maintenance, pothole repairs and local transport measures. West Yorkshire Combined Authority also has access to the £4.2bn Intra-City Transport Settlements, to improve transport connectivity within West Yorkshire and the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, launched at the Budget 2021. Bids have now closed for the first round of this Fund however, there will be further opportunities in the coming years.
The Government has committed £906m to upgrade the Transpennine main line between Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester. The second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), published in 2020, has also included funding for Highways England to develop proposals to upgrade M1 Leeds Eastern Gateway, M1/M62 Lofthouse Junction and M1 Junctions 35A-39.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on reversing the Beeching cuts and restoring stations in (a) East Ardsley and Thorpe and (b) more widely.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government has pledged £500m to the Restoring Your Railway fund to reverse the Beeching cuts and restore lines and stations.
I understand that my Hon Friend has supported a bid to the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund for the restoration of a railway station in East Ardsley. The bid is currently being assessed and we expect to announce the outcomes in the summer.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what financial and other support he is providing to local authorities to improve the condition of roads.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department has allocated over £2.6 billion for local highways maintenance for the period 2020/21 to 2021/22 to local highways authorities in England, outside London.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve cyclist safety through enhancements to road infrastructure and layout.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government has announced ambitious plans for cycling and walking and has committed an unprecedented £2 billion of funding for active travel over the next 5 years. The details are set out in the Prime Minister’s Gear Change plan, published in July and can be viewed here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycling-and-walking-plan-for-england.
The detailed design of cycle lanes is a matter for individual local traffic authorities. Design advice for cycling infrastructure, including cycle lanes, can be found in Local Transport Note 1/20 ‘Cycle Infrastructure Design’ which is at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-120.
The Government also published additional Network Management Duty guidance, which was updated in November 2020. This clearly sets out what the Government expects local authorities to do in making changes to their road layouts to encourage cycling and walking.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he make an assessment of the potential merits on introducing (a) training and (b) public service advertisements for motorists on the safe use of smart motorways.
Answered by George Freeman
I want our motorways to be as safe as possible. That is why the Secretary of State asked the Department to carry out an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways and make recommendations. The Department will present the findings of the stocktake shortly.
While I would not want to pre-judge the results of that work, what I can say is that we will continue to prioritise improving safety – making conditions safer for everyone on our roads. The Roads Minister will write to you as soon as the stocktake is completed to answer your specific question.