Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications have been made for the installation of permanent traffic lights on the B5345 (Whitehaven) in the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Installation of traffic lights is the responsibility of the local traffic authority. They do not have to obtain approval to do so from the Department.
Cumbria County Council sought advice from the Department in January 2016 about placing traffic signals on the B5345 at Meadow View, but this did not constitute an application for approval.
Legislation restricts the use of traffic lights to places where there is conflict, either between vehicles or vehicles and pedestrians. This means junctions, places where the headroom or width of the road is permanently restricted, or crossing places. The Department’s view was that this site did not fall within any of these circumstances and Cumbria County Council was advised accordingly.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to reduce the number of road accidents on the A595.
Answered by John Hayes
The A595 is some 85 miles in length of which Highways England is responsible for the 19 mile section between Chapel Brow and Calder Bridge and the remainder is the responsibility of Cumbria County Council. Highways England keeps the safety performance of all its roads under continuous review and has delivered safety improvements at nine locations on the A595 between January 2011 and October 2016. These include improvements to pedestrian facilities, road markings, road signs, the introduction of traffic signals and a reduction in the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph between Mirehouse and Bigrigg. The number of recorded personal injury accidents along this section in 2015 was significantly lower than in previous years.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fatal accidents there have been on each A road in 2016.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The table below gives the top 20 A roads with the highest number of fatal accidents in Great Britain for 2015. The fatal accident rate per 100 miles of route length has also been provided as this allows the length of road to be taken into account when comparing the safety performance of the roads.
Given the relatively small number of accidents on each road, the total number of fatal accidents could vary significantly between years. Accident numbers will vary between roads based on a number of factors, including: traffic volume and different types of vehicle, as well as the characteristic of the road itself.
Top 20 A roads with the highest number of fatal accidents in 2015, Great Britain.
A road number 1 | No. of fatal accidents | Fatal accident rate per 100 miles of route length 2 |
|
|
|
A5 | 17 | 6.42 |
A1 | 14 | 4.37 |
A6 | 13 | 4.56 |
A40 | 12 | 4.24 |
A303 | 11 | 10.0 |
A46 | 9 | 4.23 |
A4 | 9 | 6.33 |
A30 | 9 | 3.03 |
A41 | 9 | 5.21 |
A49 | 9 | 6.15 |
A15 | 8 | 7.90 |
A45 | 8 | 9.55 |
A35 | 8 | 7.60 |
A47 | 8 | 4.53 |
A259 | 8 | 6.19 |
A38 | 8 | 2.44 |
A34 | 7 | 4.05 |
A90 | 7 | 4.47 |
A631 | 7 | 10.9 |
A66 | 7 | 5.73 |
1 excludes A(M) sections of road
2 Route length includes slip roads and covers the length of the road rather than length of individual carriageways.
The attached document (Appendix 1) provides the number of fatal accidents and fatal accident rates per 100 miles of route for each of the A roads where a fatal accident was recorded in 2015.
Data for 2016 is currently unavailable. The statistics will be available after publication in June 2017.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the value of British goods that will be exported to non-EU destinations served by an expanded Heathrow Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
Expansion at Heathrow is expected to lead to 260,000 additional flights a year in 2040. While the department believes that trade benefits would come from airport expansion, the exact magnitude of these is uncertain. Indicative estimates of the trade impacts of airport expansion can be found in the Further Review and Sensitivities Report published as part of the Government’s announcement on its preferred scheme for airport expansion.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many additional passengers his Department estimates will travel (a) to and (b) from the North West using the international connections served by an expanded Heathrow Airport.
Answered by John Hayes
In 2040, compared to no expansion, around an extra 150,000 passengers could make one-way trips to, or from the North West using international connections offered by an expanded Heathrow. Approximately 120,000 of these additional trips would be to long haul destinations, and roughly 22,000 of these for business, rather than leisure.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the effect on the physical and mental health of rail users of overcrowding on trains.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Department does not undertake any specific assessment of the effect on the physical and mental health of rail users of overcrowding on trains. The Department recognises the need to create more capacity on the network, to relieve the overcrowding and provide a better traveling environment for passengers across the country. Recent commitments include an overall capacity boost of nearly 70% across the Trans Pennine Express franchise region during the morning peak, and nearly a 40% increase in capacity for passengers travelling into the 5 major commuter cities served by the Northern franchise (Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle) during the morning rush-hour. The Northern franchise will also provide more services and more space on the Cumbrian Coast line, with timetable improvements to benefit workers at Sellafield and Whitehaven.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage commuters to use carbon-free public transport in (a) England and (b) Cumbria.
Answered by Andrew Jones
We are taking a series of measures to help commuters and others use carbon free transport, and will continue to promote public transport choices, supporting the market for innovative forms of transport and encourage a move to cleaner and lower carbon vehicles.
By improving the whole journey, how each part connects and how to better integrate those parts, more people will have the choice to use greener transport for their journeys. For instance, the £30m Low Emission Bus Scheme will be funding over 320 Low Emission Buses in England over the period 2016-19. Furthermore, with the help of nearly £30m Government funding, we have trebled the number of cycle parking spaces at stations since 2010. We are spending more than £600 million by 2020 to support ultra low emission vehicles including significant funding to support the introduction of ultra low emission taxis.
Cumbria County Council were allocated £4.89m from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund for 2011 to 2015 and just under £1m for 2015-16 to deliver high quality transport and connectivity improvements from key transport gateways in Cumbria to major visitor destinations. The Growth Deal agreed between Government and Cumbria LEP in July 2014 contained over £12m of funding for five projects that promote the use of sustainable transport, which included improved access to rail stations at Maryport and Workington, along with new cycling and walking infrastructure in Carlisle, Kendal and at key visitor attractions in the National Park.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2016 to Question 48986, if he will visit the A595 in Copeland before Christmas 2016.
Answered by John Hayes
Due to existing diary commitments, it is unlikely that I, as the Roads Minister, will be able to visit the A595 in Copeland before Christmas 2016. Nevertheless, it is my intention to visit roads across the country over the coming months.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will visit the A595 in Copeland.
Answered by John Hayes
In my capacity as Roads Minister, I will be visiting different parts of the strategic road network around the country over the coming months.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will visit the Cumbrian Coast Rail Line between Carlisle and Whitehaven.
Answered by Paul Maynard
I regret that due to pressures on my diary I will not be able to visit the Cumbrian Coast Rail Line in the near future. However, I will be writing to the Hon. Member to respond to the concerns he has raised with the Secretary of State about the progression of enhancements to the line to support proposed economic development in his constituency.