Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and her Department's document entitled English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, whether she will bring forward legislative proposals for (a) Mayors to have a statutory role in (i) governing, (ii) managing and (iii) planning railways, and (b) an option for Mayors to control local railway stations and (c) the right for Mayors to request rail devolution.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
These subjects will be addressed in the Railways Bill, to be introduced later in this parliamentary session, and with accompanying guidance on the right to request. Guidance will outline the process for Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities to make this request and the criteria that will be considered, such as national and regional network implications.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to help support the long-term viability of community rail organisations in the context of (a) her Department's rail reforms and (b) the inception of Great British Rail.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As we move towards establishing Great British Railways (GBR), the Community Rail movement will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities. We will continue to work closely with the Community Rail Network to identify opportunities to support the community rail sector ahead of the standup of GBR.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support community rail in the north of England.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to support the community rail sector across the north of England, including through funding for station adoption groups and Community Rail Partnerships. This support is delivered via train operating companies and through the Community Rail Network (CRN), who provide access to grants and resources to its members. As we move towards establishing Great British Railways, the role of Community Rail will be more important than ever. Community Rail will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities in the north of England.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help support the wider community utility of rail stations in the north of England.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department continues to support the community rail sector across the north of England, including through funding for station adoption groups and Community Rail Partnerships. This support is delivered via train operating companies and through the Community Rail Network (CRN), who provide access to grants and resources to its members. As we move towards establishing Great British Railways, the role of Community Rail will be more important than ever. Community Rail will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities in the north of England.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of bridleways on supporting active travel nationally.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Bridleways have an important role to play in enabling active travel across the country. To support local authorities seeking to deliver active travel schemes outside of towns and cities, Active Travel England is developing specific guidance for good practice application in rural contexts and expects to publish this later this year. The guidance will explore how best bridleways (and other elements of the Public Rights of Way network) can be incorporated and integrated into existing and proposed active travel networks to expand their reach and connectivity. This will potentially have benefits for a range of different path users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to introduce universal signage for electronic vehicle charging points.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A reliable, accessible public charging network to support electric vehicle (EV) drivers on long journeys is essential. Ensuring this is visible and functional will build consumer confidence, which is vital for mass EV adoption. An EV charging symbol is in use on traffic signs to direct drivers to the growing number of chargepoints. There are now over 5,250 open-access rapid and ultra rapid chargers within one mile of the Strategic Road Network (SRN), having doubled over 18 months.
Government is working with industry, including chargepoint operators, and with National Highways, which manages the SRN in England, to improve signage deployment. This includes looking for opportunities to make it easier to provide signage for EV-only charging hubs.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to take steps to help reduce the cost of using the public electric vehicle charging network.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that the public charging network is affordable and accessible. The Government’s Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 increase transparency of public charging costs and make it easier for drivers to pay.
Under the regulations, companies are required to clearly provide the price of charging in pence per kilowatt hour. The maximum price cannot increase once a session has started. Whilst this does not cap the cost, it does ensure consistency in the way prices are displayed, making it easy for drivers to compare and understand prices across different public chargepoints. This will allow customers to choose the chargepoint and the price most appropriate for their needs.
The Government will continue to work with other Government departments and industry on measures to keep the cost of EV charging affordable for consumers.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to incentivise local authorities to provide funding for public electronic vehicle charging points.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government's £381m Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund supports local authorities in England to work with industry to transform the availability of public EV charging infrastructure. The funding, which is expected to leverage significant further private investment, will support the installation of at least 100,000 local chargepoints across the country.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to mitigate rail congestion across East-West rail lines in the north of England.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline portfolio contains some of the most transformative and important programmes in the country such as the TransPennine Route Upgrade, which will increase capacity and improve reliability of East to West rail lines in the north of England.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the deliverability of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As announced in the Autumn 2024 Budget, we are maintaining momentum on Northern Powerhouse Rail by progressing planning and design works to support future delivery. This improved rail connectivity in the north is a vital step towards better linking people and jobs, creating opportunities for everyone and we will set out further details in due course.