Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the proposed New Generation Trolleybus scheme in Leeds.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The most recent cost of the proposed New Generation Trolleybus scheme in Leeds as provided to this Department by the promoters, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, is £250 million.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the delayed electrification of the TransPennine rail route to planned upgrades to the Midland Mainline; and what contingency plans he has put in place to mitigate such effects.
Answered by Andrew Jones
There are no likely effects from pausing electrification of the TransPennine rail route to the planned upgrades to the Midland Mainline and therefore no contingency plans are required.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the Inquiry Inspector's report following the public inquiry into the New Generation Trolleybus scheme; and when he plans to make a further announcement on that scheme.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Inspector who held an inquiry into this scheme between April and October last year submitted an extensive report to the Department on 29 July 2015. We are giving the report careful consideration and will publish it with a fully reasoned decision letter as soon as reasonably possible. Given the complex issues involved in this case it is too early to predict when that will be.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on employment in Yorkshire of the electrification of the Leeds-Harrogate-York railway line.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The North of England Electrification Task Force took account of the estimated wider economic benefits of electrification in drawing up its recommendations on the priorities for future electrification of lines in the North of England, published in March 2015. Network Rail is taking these recommendations into account in assessing the case for further electrification of the national rail network, including the Leeds-Harrogate-York line. It plans to publish a draft update to the industry electrification strategy in due course.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on Leeds-Bradford Airport of a new runway at (a) Heathrow and (b) Gatwick Airport.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
To ensure our long term connectivity needs can be met, the previous Government established the independent Airports Commission to identify and recommend to Government options for maintaining this country’s status as an international hub for aviation. Three options for expansion were shortlisted by the Commission for further examination.
The Airports Commission has discussed and consulted on how airports outside the South East might be affected by expansion at the shortlisted expansion options. The relevant documents can be found on the Airports Commission website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/airports-commission
The Commission’s final report was published on 01 July 2015. The Government will not be commenting on the any of the Airports Commission’s recommendations until it has had time to examine all the evidence.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of road and rail access to regional airports; and which airports he rates as inadequate in this respect.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government has not made a general assessment of the adequacy of road and rail access to regional airports. It is for regional airports to work with their local authorities, local bus and rail companies and Local Economic Partnerships to identify opportunities to promote access to airports.
Where the scheme has a wider range of beneficiaries, the Government will consider, along with other relevant stakeholders, the need for additional public funding on a case-by-case basis.
With respect to Leeds Bradford, the Leeds Bradford International Airport Connectivity Study set out the potential benefit of a new link road and recommended further consideration of the opportunity for a rail link to be provided in the longer term. The Chancellor set out the Government’s response to the study in the 2014 Autumn Statement, in which he encouraged the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to consider how to take the recommendations forward.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve local cycle infrastructure in cities and towns in Yorkshire.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
While decisions on funding for cycle infrastructure improvements are primarily the responsibility of the relevant local transport authority, the Department for Transport is supporting cycle improvements in the Yorkshire area through the Cycle City Ambition programme. We are investing £40.1m to expand the cycle superhighway network in Leeds City Centre and provide new segregated facilities in Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield and York centres to increase cycling. When combined with local funding contributions, this programme is seeing over £10 per head spent on cycling in the Yorkshire area.
In addition to this, in the Yorkshire area the Department is providing £945.4k through the Cycle-Rail programme which is improving cycling facilities at stations. Measures include enhanced CCTV and lighting, cycle shelters and nearly 800 meters of cycle links. The Yorkshire and Humber region is also receiving over £8.6m (with over £2.8m going to West Yorkshire) in funding through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund in 2015/16. These packages will implement measures that promote and encourage uptake of sustainable travel options, such as cycling, to increase access to employment and training opportunities, with emphasis on locations of high unemployment, health inequality and congestion.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his oral statement of 25 June 2015, Official Report, column 1067-8, on Network Rail, what his policy is on electrification of the Leeds-Harrogate-York line.
Answered by Claire Perry
Network Rail is currently assessing the case for further electrification of the rail network, including the line from Leeds to York via Harrogate. It plans to publish a draft update to the industry electrification strategy in due course.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to raise the child rail fare age limit from 15 to 18.
Answered by Claire Perry
Child fares are defined at 15 not only in rail, but most other forms of public transport. The definition for child fares on rail is set out in the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCoC). This states that states that "Children under 16 years of age are entitled to discounts on most tickets." The NRCoC is an agreement between train operators that sets out arrangements for the carriage of passengers and the retailing of tickets. As such any changes to this agreement would need to be for train operators to consider and not the department.