Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on assessing the Motorcycle Industry Association’s proposal for assessors from approved training bodies to carry out licence upgrades for vehicles up to 22kw.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is committed to reviewing all aspects of motorcycle training and testing, and is in the process of assessing the Motorcycle Industry Association’s proposals.
Officials met with key representatives of the motorcycle organisations on 4 December 2023 to discuss motorcycle safety. The next round table meeting, which is scheduled for 8 May 2024, will further consider the proposals and options including licence upgrades.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to invest in new road infrastructure in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by John Hayes
Since 2012, this and the previous Government have provided £230m to fund local road improvement and maintenance schemes in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Decisions on which schemes to progress are for the respective Local Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships to determine using either local funding or Government funding streams such as the Local Growth Fund.
Highways England are expecting to invest in the region of £1bn in Yorkshire and the Humber to deliver major schemes in the Road Investment Strategy (2015-2020). They also plan to spend £71m on smaller scale improvement schemes over the next 3 years.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to improve rail connectivity to Leeds-Bradford airport.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Leeds City Council has submitted to the Department for Transport a proposal over how it wishes to spend the funding originally allocated to the trolley-bus scheme. This contains proposals for new train stations in the region, including one close to Leeds-Bradford Airport with a bus link to the airport terminal. All schemes proposed within the package will be subject to local business case approval.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the policies operated by local authorities on parking charges in supporting the local economy whilst adequately managing traffic and parking flows.
Answered by Andrew Jones
None. It is for local authorities to assess the effectiveness of their local policies on their local communities.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to carry out further work with local authorities on pavement parking issues.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport convened a roundtable meeting with external stakeholders, including some local authorities, in March 2016 following the withdrawal of my Hon Friend, the Hon Member of North Dorset’s (Simon Hoare) Private Member’s Bill, which sought to ban pavement parking nationally. A possible pavement parking ban in the rest of England outside London was discussed. However, it was identified at the roundtable that the major concerns affecting the ability to introduce and enforce a pavement parking prohibition were issues relating to the processing of Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). We plan to launch a survey in summer 2017 in order to gather evidence about the current situation, the costs and timescales for processing TROs, and information about options for change.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from Calderdale Council on (a) addressing traffic congestion and (b) tackling air pollution issues at Hipperholme traffic lights.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport has not received any recent representations from Calderdale Council on a) addressing traffic congestion and (b) tackling air pollution issues at Hipperholme traffic lights.