Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many driving tests have been booked in Wiltshire in 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows how many car practical driving tests have been booked for test centres serving Wiltshire in 2025.
Driving Test Centre | Tests Booked (Net Demand) |
Chippenham | 7,737 |
Salisbury | 4,432 |
Swindon | 8,694 |
Trowbridge | 1,323 |
Total | 22,186 |
*Trowbridge is a taking the test to the customer site so may not be open every day.
Information on the number of approved driving instructors by postcode, including for Wiltshire is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/driving-instructor-and-motorcycle-instructor-register-data
The table below shows the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times for a practical car driving test for test centres serving Wiltshire over the last ten years.
Driving Test Centre | Average Waiting time (weeks) | Longest Waiting time (weeks) |
Chippenham | 12.6 | 24 |
Salisbury | 10.7 | 24 |
Swindon | 13.2 | 24 |
Trowbridge | 14.5 | 24 |
*Trowbridge is a taking the test to the customer site so may not be open every day.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on the number of approved driving instructors there are in Wiltshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows how many car practical driving tests have been booked for test centres serving Wiltshire in 2025.
Driving Test Centre | Tests Booked (Net Demand) |
Chippenham | 7,737 |
Salisbury | 4,432 |
Swindon | 8,694 |
Trowbridge | 1,323 |
Total | 22,186 |
*Trowbridge is a taking the test to the customer site so may not be open every day.
Information on the number of approved driving instructors by postcode, including for Wiltshire is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/driving-instructor-and-motorcycle-instructor-register-data
The table below shows the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times for a practical car driving test for test centres serving Wiltshire over the last ten years.
Driving Test Centre | Average Waiting time (weeks) | Longest Waiting time (weeks) |
Chippenham | 12.6 | 24 |
Salisbury | 10.7 | 24 |
Swindon | 13.2 | 24 |
Trowbridge | 14.5 | 24 |
*Trowbridge is a taking the test to the customer site so may not be open every day.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times for a practical driving test in Wiltshire were in the last 10 years, by driving test centre.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The table below shows how many car practical driving tests have been booked for test centres serving Wiltshire in 2025.
Driving Test Centre | Tests Booked (Net Demand) |
Chippenham | 7,737 |
Salisbury | 4,432 |
Swindon | 8,694 |
Trowbridge | 1,323 |
Total | 22,186 |
*Trowbridge is a taking the test to the customer site so may not be open every day.
Information on the number of approved driving instructors by postcode, including for Wiltshire is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/driving-instructor-and-motorcycle-instructor-register-data
The table below shows the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times for a practical car driving test for test centres serving Wiltshire over the last ten years.
Driving Test Centre | Average Waiting time (weeks) | Longest Waiting time (weeks) |
Chippenham | 12.6 | 24 |
Salisbury | 10.7 | 24 |
Swindon | 13.2 | 24 |
Trowbridge | 14.5 | 24 |
*Trowbridge is a taking the test to the customer site so may not be open every day.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve rail services in rural areas of the South West.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government is committed to improving rural rail services in the South-West, and public ownership and the creation of Great British Railways will help to deliver this.
We are striving to enhance connectivity and increase service frequency across underserved communities to the benefit of passengers provided it is affordable for the UK taxpayer.
Wiltshire local authority is receiving £18.6 million of capital Local Transport Grant and over £1.3million in revenue funding from the Local Transport Grant over this Spending Review period which will help to improve transport in their local area.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of levels of car use on (a) congestion and (b) road noise.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department periodically publishes the national road traffic projections. The most recent being the National Road Traffic Projections 2022. This includes a measure of congestion expressed as lost time per mile, per vehicle in seconds. This is split by vehicle type, road type and region. While no specific assessment on levels of car use and road noise has been undertaken, the Government’s methods for the Calculation of Road Traffic Noise (CRTN), however, provides a standardised approach to calculate noise impacts from existing or proposed road networks to assess and manage the noise impacts on nearby communities.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of minimum service standards for cross county bus services.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) already often work closely together when tendering routes that cross shared boundaries and in delivering their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP). There are also requirements set out in the Transport Act 2000 for LTAs to take account of the effect of an Enhanced Partnership on neighbouring areas and for bus policies on bus services in neighbouring LTA areas to be considered when developing their franchising arrangements.
The government has updated its bus franchising guidance to LTAs to make clear that they should consider cross-boundary services during any franchising assessment process, including in the commercial case where they should set out how they intend to facilitate cross-boundary services to deliver relevant BSIP outcomes and targets in both authorities’ areas.
The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December which puts the power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders, and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them right across England, including services that cross local authority boundaries.
The Bill would give franchising authorities greater scope to grant service permits to operators wishing to provide non-franchised services which enter a franchising area from another area. Franchising authorities will be able to take account of these proposed cross-boundary services’ benefits in all the areas where the service would run, not just the franchising area as before. This will enable franchising authorities to better harness the additionality the market can provide in delivering these important services and take a more holistic approach to cross-boundary bus provision.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact unrepaired potholes on (a) cyclists and (b) pedestrians.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to enabling local highway authorities to maintain and renew their local highway networks effectively. The Department’s highway maintenance funding is to enable local highway authorities to look after all parts of their highway networks, including cycle lanes and footways. It is up to individual local highway authorities to assess the impacts of their highway maintenance programmes on all road users, and to satisfy themselves that they are complying with their responsibilities under the Highways Act 1980.
Local highway authorities should consider the needs of all road users, especially vulnerable groups such as cyclists and pedestrians, when planning their highway maintenance programmes. Potholes, and poorly maintained pavements, have particular impacts on cyclists and pedestrians. The consequences of hitting a pothole can be far worse for a cyclist than for a driver, for example, and poorly maintained pavements can result in trips and falls as well as putting some people off walking altogether.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with local authorities to provide sustainable road surfacing.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to enabling local highway authorities to maintain and renew their local highway networks effectively. Decisions on road surfacing materials used in highway maintenance activities are a matter for each local authority based on local needs and priorities.
The Department encourages and supports innovation and best practice in road surface repairs in various ways. It has started the task of updating the Code of Practice for Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure, which will include new advice on matters such as surface treatments. The Department is also providing £30 million to the ADEPT ‘Live Labs’ research programme, enabling local authority-led consortia to trial innovative low-carbon ways of looking after their networks. One of the projects within the Live Labs programme is enabling novel resurfacing materials to be tested and evaluated through the Centre of Excellence for Decarbonising Roads, led by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to encourage active travel in rural areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have recently announced £222.5 million to local authorities outside London for the delivery of active travel schemes and £30 million for upgrading the National Cycle Network. Much of this investment will go to rural areas. Active Travel England (ATE) also provides training for local authority staff to enable delivery of high-quality walking and cycling schemes, as well as design workshops and design assurance reviews of schemes under development.
Additionally, ATE has worked with the ten National Parks in England to help them develop better links to rural towns and villages. ATE is developing specific guidance for good practice application in rural areas and expects to publish this shortly.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the classifications of (a) mobility scooters and (b) powered wheelchairs on people with mobility aids outside those classifications.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is committed to delivering a transport network which puts passengers and their needs at its heart. We want to see disabled passengers able to make the journeys they want and need – doing this easily, confidently, with dignity and without extra cost.
We recognise the need for modern regulation that is designed with, and meets the needs of disabled people, and will continue to work closely with a range of stakeholders to help us develop this work.