Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve bus services in England.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
On 15 March we launched England’s long-term National Bus Strategy, setting out a bold vision for bus services across the country. Backed by £3 billion of transformational funding over the current Parliament, the Strategy will make buses more frequent, more reliable, easier to understand and use, better co-ordinated and cheaper.
Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs), which we expect local authorities to produce by the end of October, will need to set out ambitious visions for travel by bus, meeting the goals and expectations in the strategy. BSIPs will influence the share of the £3 billion funding that each authority receives.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Highways England on noise pollution caused by the concrete road surface between junctions 10 and 11 of the M25.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Highways England is aware that noise is an important issue for residents living next to the M25 motorway between junctions 10 and 11 and is actively looking for ways to improve the situation.
Work to repair failed joints in the concrete carriageways was completed in November 2019 and this should help to reduce the noise level.
There are currently no plans to resurface the carriageways on this section of the M25, but there is a trial to test materials and techniques which could help to reduce noise and improve the performance of concrete surfaces which is currently being carried out on the M1. The trial includes measurement of the noise reduction achieved and the rate of deterioration of the different treatments and is anticipated to continue until 2022. The results of this trial will help Highways England to decide how to manage concrete surfaces on its roads in the future, including this section of the M25.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will ask Highways England to replace the poor quality road surface between junctions 10 and 11 of the M25.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Highways England is aware that noise is an important issue for residents living next to the M25 motorway between junctions 10 and 11 and is actively looking for ways to improve the situation.
Work to repair failed joints in the concrete carriageways was completed in November 2019 and this should help to reduce the noise level.
There are currently no plans to resurface the carriageways on this section of the M25, but there is a trial to test materials and techniques which could help to reduce noise and improve the performance of concrete surfaces which is currently being carried out on the M1. The trial includes measurement of the noise reduction achieved and the rate of deterioration of the different treatments and is anticipated to continue until 2022. The results of this trial will help Highways England to decide how to manage concrete surfaces on its roads in the future, including this section of the M25.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the performance of rail services operating from Woking to London.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
South Western Railways’ (SWR) Franchise Agreement contains provisions that incentivises SWR to improve its own performance and to work jointly with Network Rail. Challenging targets for performance have been set and where performance falls below expected levels, SWR is required to invest additional sums of money into initiatives to address the causes of the poor performance. This has been the case in the first two years of the Franchise, where targets were not met. Officials and I continue to monitor closely SWR’s performance and are currently in the process of finalising a Remedial Agreement.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to require South Western Railway to compensate passengers for the heavily disrupted service from Woking Station into London during the recent RMT strike.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Passengers are entitled to compensation under the Delay Repay scheme for delays of 15 minutes or more against the published timetable on SWR. The Department are considering all options available to ensure passengers are compensated for this disruption