Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps with National Highways to install LED cat’s eyes on the A34.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways is responsible for the maintenance and safety of the A34. The A34 has approximately 0.5 million metres of longitudinal road markings, with a legacy of associated road studs of various types. Surface-mounted road studs are typical, although more robust embedded studs are used where necessary, such as at centre lines near junctions.
LED flush solar road studs have already been installed at several locations on the A34, including around the West Ilsley, Chilton, Milton, Hinksey Hill, and Botley junctions, to improve nighttime visibility.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the quality of road surfaces on the A34 slip roads.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways is responsible for the maintenance and the quality of the A34 and its slip roads surfaces. National Highways currently has a resurfacing scheme ongoing in the East Ilsley area, which includes the resurfacing of the northbound slip roads.
In addition, several A34 slip roads have been resurfaced since December 2023. These include:
National Highways will continue to monitor the condition of the A34 and plan further maintenance as necessary.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps with National Highways to introduce new (a) signage and (b) road markings to improve visibility on the A34.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways is taking steps to improve visibility on the A34 through planned work on both new signage and road marking.
National Highways is currently developing a scheme to renew approximately 51 signage assets along the route, in addition to refreshing road markings on the A34 and its slip roads between the Chieveley Interchange and the junction with the M40.
Traffic signs on the A34 are inspected annually, alternating between one year as visual inspections and the second year as drive-through surveys measuring sign reflectivity. National Highways inspectors also patrol the length of the A34 at least twice a week, looking for obstructed signs or deteriorating road markings with any issues identified and raised as defects for attention.
This year, National Highways has so far carried out 1,053 soft estate works on the A34, including the clearance of vegetation and obstructions from sightlines at junctions, signage, footpaths, and technology equipment.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will work with National Highways to ensure that runoff from the M4 does not pollute the chalk streams in Newbury.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways (NH) is well aware of this issue, and in 2024 treated a site along the M4 that was found to be discharging into the River Lambourn chalk stream near Newbury. More generally, the Department is working closely with NH to address the risk of water pollution from the strategic road network and supports the prioritisation approach taken by NH in its efforts to mitigate pollution. This focuses on addressing verified high-risk outfalls as defined in NH’s 2030 water quality plan. The DfT and NH both recognise the importance of protecting chalk streams and NH is undertaking a review of its technical standard for road drainage and the water environment to give greater prominence to chalk streams.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on making at least 10,000 extra driving tests available each month.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
Since announcing these measures, DVSA has:
The ATA scheme is designed to encourage a high level of take up. It is too early to provide information on how many volunteers might take up the offer nationally and the number of additional tests created.
As part of the measures announced 23 April, DVSA also has:
Further information on these actions and progress of DVSA’s plan to reduce driving test waiting times, which was announced in December 2024, can be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans her Department has to increase funding for (a) road maintenance and (b) pothole repairs in Newbury.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
West Berkshire Council is the local highway authority for Newbury. The Government is providing West Berkshire Council with £8.9 million of highway maintenance funding in 2025/26, an increase of over £2.3 million compared to 2024/25. Funding is not ring-fenced, and it is a matter for local authorities to determine how the money is best spent.
Decisions on future funding settlements for local highway authorities, including West Berkshire Council, will be decided as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to improve road safety for horses and horse riders.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In 2022 The Highway Code was updated to improve the safety of all road users, particularly the most vulnerable. Key changes included the introduction of a Hierarchy of Road Users, which ensures that those who do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat that they pose to others, along with the strengthening of guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking horse riders.
The Government's flagship road safety campaign, THINK!, ran campaigns to alert road users of the changes as they came into effect and broader behaviour campaigns to encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance. Results from the last campaign showed that by September 2023, 93% of drivers agreed it was their responsibility to give space to vulnerable road users. We will continue to promote The Highway Code changes on THINK! and DfT social media channels and via our partner organisations.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of slip roads on the A34 in Newbury on passenger safety.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
National Highways has undertaken several studies across various sections of the A34 to understand where improvements could be made. In 2017, the Department commissioned National Highways to conduct an in-depth safety review of the route to study incident hotspots. This work identified and delivered £12.1m of improvements to the route between Newbury and Oxford, including to the slip roads at East Illsley, West Berkshire.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve road safety on slip roads on the A34 in Newbury.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In 2017, the Department commissioned National Highways to conduct an in-depth safety review of the route to study incident hotspots, which identified and delivered £12.1m of improvements to the route between Newbury and Oxford, including to the slip roads at East Illsley, West Berkshire. National Highways continues to review the safety performance of these sections of the strategic road network and consider the case for further investment where necessary. I have asked National Highways to engage with local MPs on the route regarding this work.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to National Highways to improve road safety on the A34 around Newbury constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Safety remains the Department and National Highways top priority as we develop the third Road Investment Strategy, which will set out National Highways strategic objectives, deliverables and funding to operate and maintain the strategic road network for the period 2026 – 2031.