Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to progress the feasibility study for the extension of the Borders Railway to Carlisle.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Scottish Government is building the evidence base through their Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) process, due to report in early 2021. DfT officials and Transport Scotland are discussing the scope of complementary DfT-funded feasibility work on the cross-border benefits and challenges of the options. This work will be commissioned and carried out during 2020 so as to inform and enhance the output of the STPR process.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to make an assessment of the feasibility of extending the Borders railway to Carlisle.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Work on this is ongoing. On 1 July 2019, Ministers of the UK and Scottish Governments and the Leaders of the five councils of the Borderlands Partnership signed the ‘Heads of Terms’ for the £394.5 million Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. This includes up to £10 million joint funding with Scottish Government to assess the feasibility of extending the Borders Railway from Tweedbank to Carlisle.
The full Heads of Terms document sets out further details of the projects being proposed and is available on the GOV.UK website at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/816873/Borderlands_Growth_Deal_-_Heads_of_Terms_2019.pdf
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase road safety for horse riders.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government recognises that horse riders and carriage drivers are vulnerable road users. Accordingly, the Highway Code covers horse riders and the need for drivers to exercise special care in relation to them.
As part of the current Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) Safety Review, The Highway Code will be reviewed to help keep cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders safe on the roads.
The full scope of review has yet to be determined but, in accordance with normal practice, it will be conducted in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including those representing equestrians.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) geographic and (b) track miles of train tracks have been electrified in each year since 1997.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The information requested is provided in the table below, covering England and Wales:
Calendar year in which electrification infrastructure completed and testing completed to make ready for passenger use (Note 1) | Approximate total route miles in the year (Note 2) | Secretary of State for Transport |
1997 | 0 |
|
1998 | 0 |
|
1999 | 0 |
|
2000 | 0 |
|
2001 | 0 |
|
2002 | 0 |
|
2003 | 10 | Alistair Darling |
2004 | 0 |
|
2005 | 0 |
|
2006 | 0 |
|
2007 | 0 |
|
2008 | 0 |
|
2009 | 0 |
|
2010 | 0 |
|
2011 | 0 |
|
2012 | 0 |
|
2013 | 18 | Sir Patrick McLoughlin |
2014 | 0 |
|
2015 | 32 | Sir Patrick McLoughlin |
2016 | 0 |
|
2017 | 42 | Chris Grayling |
2018 | 107 | Chris Grayling |
2019 | 49 | Chris Grayling |
TOTAL | 258 |
|
Note 1 – this date is not necessarily the date when the infrastructure is first used in timetabled passenger service.
Note 2 – the route mileage figures are approximate. The figures are for the ‘traditional’ / existing railway only, so exclude the 67 miles of HS1 completed before 2010.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage the creation of international connections to and from Scotland from other UK airports.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Government is supportive of all airports including those in Scotland, in creating new international connections. The Government believes that air passengers are best served by a commercial airline market which is able to operate in a competitive environment. It is solely a matter for airlines to determine which airports they operate based on their own assessment of costs and passenger demand.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve cycle safety on roads.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is focused on making cycling and walking safer and easier, and to that end the Department for Transport undertook a major cycling and walking safety review in 2018. Following an extensive public consultation, the Department published its full response and a detailed two year action plan on 22 November 2018, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/governments-response-to-the-cycling-walking-investment-strategy-safety-review
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the level of social exclusion is in rural areas; and what assessment his Department has made of the link between social exclusion and access to public transport in rural areas.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
In December 2018 the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published their annual digest of statistics on a range of social and economic subject areas. This survey also shows that levels of belonging are, in fact, 10% higher in rural areas.
However, we acknowledge that for some, a lack of public transport can prevent people from having the social connections that they want, particularly in rural areas. The Department for Transport is one of five government departments to have loneliness added to the ministerial portfolio, and sits on the cross-government group which takes responsibility for driving action on social exclusion.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on opening Carlisle airport to domestic flights as part of the proposed Borderlands Growth Deal.
Answered by John Hayes
No such discussions have taken place. UK airlines and airports operate in a competitive, commercial environment, and it is for individual airlines to decide what air services they operate based on their assessment of commercial and market conditions. Stobart Air was offered support under the Regional Air Connectivity Fund to set up new routes from Carlisle Airport in 2016. As yet these new routes are not in operation. Any decision to start operation of these routes would be for the airline to decide.