Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point about Leeds being the largest city without a mass transit system. The integrated rail plan committed £100 million to start work on the mass transit system and to look at the most effective way to get HS2 trains to Leeds. However, it is worth noting that in addition to that, £830 million was allocated to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority through the city regional sustainable transport settlement in the autumn Budget, of which we expect £200 million to take forward the mass transit system based on the current proposals.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

15. If he will ensure that funding for junction 10A on the A14 at Kettering is incorporated into road investment strategy 3 from 2025.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Andrew Stephenson)]

The Government recognise the importance of the strategic road network in supporting local growth. National Highways has reviewed earlier work on a potential junction 10A on the A14 so that the project can be considered for the next road investment strategy. The review’s findings will be available in the new year.

[Mr Hollobone]

Residents in Kettering, Barton Seagrave and Burton Latimer desperately needed this junction in RIS3 from 2025; otherwise, Kettering will simply grind to a halt. Will my hon. Friend be kind enough to secure for me a meeting with the noble Baroness Vere, the roads Minister, and North Northamptonshire Council, so that we can finally get this scheme included in the road investment strategy?

[Andrew Stephenson]

My hon. Friend continues to make a powerful case for this scheme. I know that he has met my noble Friend the Baroness Vere before, but I am sure she will be delighted to meet him again to talk about this important scheme for his constituency.

Transport for the North

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

The hon. Gentleman asks about the change from co-clienting to co-sponsorship. As he will know, Crossrail, which has yet to open, was a co-cliented project, and one of the major lessons we have learned from that project being massively over-budget and delayed is that co-clienting does not work on major infrastructure projects. There need to be clear lines of accountability to the Secretary of State for Transport—he needs to be solely responsible for these projects to Parliament, the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and others—and that is why we are going for a sole-clienting model. It is one of the lessons we have learned from the Crossrail debacle.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

I welcome the improved connectivity from Kettering railway station to the north as a result of Government investment in our railways. We have recently had our twice-an-hour service to and from the north reinstated, after it was taken away by the Labour Government in 2010. Can my hon. Friend confirm that the connectivity from Kettering to and from the north will be further improved with the complete electrification of the midland main line?

[Andrew Stephenson]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Kettering is one of many parts of the country that will benefit much earlier and more significantly from the plans we announced last week than from the previous plans. He continues to campaign for further improvements in his constituency, and I am keen to continue working with him to ensure that we deliver those benefits, such as the midland main line electrification, as early as possible.

Integrated Rail Plan: North and Midlands

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

Yes, the hon. Gentleman should tell them that under this plan trains will come straight into the city centre of Nottingham, which would not have happened under the original HS2 plan.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

In addition to the recently announced improvements to the train service from Kettering, including a 46-minute, non-stop London to Kettering service and the reintroduction of the half-hourly service northwards, which was taken out by Labour in 2010, I welcome the better connectivity that will be experienced by rail passengers from Kettering as a result of the integrated rail plan. Will the Secretary of State confirm the timetable for the electrification of the midland main line and, in particular, the section between Kettering and Market Harborough?

[Grant Shapps]

The good news is that that is starting very soon. I made reference to work starting by Christmas and I think—this is subject to my checking—that it is actually the Kettering section that will be starting. I know that my hon. Friend’s area has already benefited from rail electrification to the south, and this brings it to the north as well.

International Travel

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Monday 20th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I should say to the hon. Lady that the quarantine hotels are the same hotels that people would be staying in if they were on holiday, on business or anything else. There should never be rats in a room, regardless of anyone’s reason to travel to that hotel. The local environmental health would certainly be interested, as would my colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care, who run the managed quarantine scheme. That is never acceptable under any circumstances. I should just point out to the House and to the hon. Lady that people should not be travelling from red-list countries without very good reason indeed. I am pleased that we have just taken eight more countries off the red list and I hope that that number will be able to continue to reduce, but people should try to avoid travelling from those countries at all.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Will the Transport Secretary help me with two cases? The first concerns a family living in Kettering who were fully vaccinated in South Africa with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The second concerns a gentleman in Kettering who is a fully vaccinated participant in the Novavax vaccine trial. Will the people in these two cases be able to travel from the UK and if they do will they have to self-isolate on their return?

[Grant Shapps]

That is an excellent question from my hon. Friend. First, on other countries, South Africa being one, coming into the programme that 50 are already in, we will publish the criteria and are working with other countries to be able to recognise their vaccinations. On the trials, we are absolutely clear that people who have volunteered for trials should not be in any way, shape or form disadvantaged by this policy. While I am mentioning them I want to mention people who cannot medically be vaccinated, who will not be disadvantaged by this policy. In both cases, they will be treated as if they are fully vaccinated travellers. I know that my hon. Friend the aviation Minister would welcome a meeting with my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) to discuss the specifics of those cases.

Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

I would be delighted to visit Old Oak Common again. It is the largest ever railway station built in a single stage. It is a 32-acre site, and it will offer the hon. Lady’s constituents unrivalled connectivity when it is open. I have visited in the past, and I will be keen to visit again and meet the hon. Lady.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

10. What total capital investment (a) Network Rail and (b) East Midlands Railway have provided for improvements and expansion of facilities at Kettering railway station in the last three years.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Chris Heaton-Harris)]

Over the last three years, £24 million of capital investment has been provided from Network Rail at Kettering station, with £1.13 million provided by East Midlands Railway.

[Mr Hollobone]

I thank the rail Minister for visiting Kettering station in May to see all the improvements that have been made. How many permanent jobs have been created by that investment, and when does he expect the historic canopy renovation works to be completed?

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour for that question and for allowing me to visit this wonderful station in his constituency. Network Rail’s canopy works—the canopy is truly beautiful, Mr Speaker—are planned for completion by the end of November this year. Network Rail’s works at Kettering, including the mainline route enhancements, have created 16 jobs, while East Midlands Railway has created 70 jobs there.

Southport to Manchester Rail Services

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Wednesday 30th June 2021 Westminster Hall

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

I remind hon. Members that there have been some changes to normal practice in order to support the hybrid arrangements. Members should clean their spaces before they use them and as they leave the room. I also remind Members that Mr Speaker has stated that masks should be worn in Westminster Hall.

[Damien Moore (Southport) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered rail services from Southport to Manchester.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I am pleased to have obtained this debate about train services to and from my constituency to Manchester, particularly the Manchester Piccadilly service, which is critical for my constituents and local businesses. Many of my constituents use that train service for employment, particularly in Wigan and Manchester, for education and for leisure. Local businesses also rely on the train service to bring potential customers, employees and other visitors to our tourist economy. All they want—indeed, all they deserve—is a direct train to the south side of Manchester.

My hon. Friend the Minister is aware that I have campaigned on this issue since I was first elected as a Member of Parliament. The good news is that, over that time, we have repeatedly fought and won to secure the future of this important service. I owe much credit to the Southport and Ormskirk rail travellers association and to the numerous Rail Ministers who have preceded my hon. Friend, including my hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones), the former Member for Orpington and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard). I know he shares an interest in this particular line, as its alteration impacts his constituents as it does mine.

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for West Lancashire (Rosie Cooper), who has led on this issue with me, and my hon. Friends the Members for South Ribble (Katherine Fletcher) and for Bolton West (Chris Green) and the hon. Members for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) and for Makerfield (Yvonne Fovargue) for their support. When there have been problems with rail timetables, we have collectively done our best to respond and force changes to the benefit of our constituents.

The bad news is that I cannot set out that glistening picture today because the service is once again faced with the prospect of being downgraded. In January, the Department for Transport, in partnership with Network Rail and Transport for the North together, having already established the Manchester recovery taskforce, launched a consultation on timetable options to improve rail performance in the north of England. That represented a major backward step for many of my constituents, who had only just secured the return of their direct services to Manchester Piccadilly. As one of my constituents said: “The most frustrating thing is that we only secured the return of the direct rail service to Manchester Piccadilly back in December, and whilst it was far from perfect, we had direct rail services to Piccadilly. Less than a month later and our town’s rail services are back on the table like a poker chip.”

The key issue is not about having a consultation, but about the reason behind it and the front-loaded way in which the options to change the routing and frequency of some existing journeys have been too heavily stacked against my constituents from the start. All three options presented by the Manchester recovery taskforce would remove my constituents’ direct rail service to Manchester Piccadilly.

Before I address that point, I will set out for the Minister the nature of the problems that my constituents currently face. Manchester has five city centre stations. For many years, the Southport line had two daytime services to Manchester—one to Victoria in the north of the city and one through Piccadilly on the south side to Manchester airport. The service specification for the Northern franchise let in 2016 meant that the long-standing Southport airport service was withdrawn and all trains from my constituency were to be routed to Victoria.

A campaign challenged that change, conducted passenger surveys and, in collaboration with the rail authorities and train operators, analysed travel data, which proved journeys to Manchester were destination-specific to one of the five city centre stations for reasons of work, business, study, health, leisure and, in the case of Piccadilly, connections to the rest of the country. Two thirds of Southport and Lancashire residents travelling to Manchester usually required the south side.

In April 2017, my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, who back then held the responsibility for our country’s rail services, recognised the issue and directed the franchisee, Arriva Rail North, to present a business plan that would deliver an already identified solution. Following my election as Member of Parliament for Southport in June that year and with ARN dragging its feet, I asked the campaign group to draw up a business case, which I sponsored and presented to the Secretary of State for Transport in January 2018.

The case was accepted by the rail industry. By then, it was committed to the May 2018 timetable debacle, which included the withdrawal of the Southport airport service. Two morning and evening services were retained. The services were restored incrementally up to the completion of the reinstatement in December 2019, but that did not include services directly to Manchester airport. When emergency key worker timetables were introduced with the first covid lockdown last year, the Southport line services, like many, were halved. Significantly, in recognition of the line’s importance, the train operator, which is now Northern Trains Ltd, devised and implemented a non-standard train path and timetable to maintain a direct key worker service to the south side. Since the pandemic, the Southport line has been one of 12 operated reliably and punctually through the Castlefield corridor.

Those are issues with the current service, but I come now to the fundamental problem of the Manchester recovery taskforce’s consultation and the proposed timetable changes to and from Southport: the downgrading of our direct rail services. When it is fully running, the line will benefit those of my constituents who want to get on a train at Southport station and sit on it as it carries them through to Wigan or perhaps the north side of Manchester. That might be of benefit to some of my constituents. However, for those who do not want that or who want a faster service to Piccadilly, such proposed timetable changes were never the answer. My constituents have been asked to forgo a service that takes them to one of the three stations in south Manchester and within a five to 10-minute walk of their workplace, the universities and the hospital. They are now being asked to use a rail service that will take them to a place they do not want to travel to, on the wrong side of the city, which will add a further 20 minutes to their overall journey time.

Allow me to provide the Minister with a bit of context. Piccadilly is the busiest station in central Manchester and the only one in the north-west region that provides connections to services everywhere in Britain. It is not a backwater at the end of the metro service. Manchester Piccadilly is a crucial stop that promotes my constituency’s tourist economy and acts as a pathway to tens of thousands of visitors each year, including to the Southport Air Show, the Southport Flower Show and, I am proud to say, The Open, which was held at the Royal Birkdale in 2017 and attracted almost a quarter of a million visitors. The station is also crucial to my constituents’ having the opportunity to attend good universities and access employment opportunities. There is now talk of a fourth compromise option, but the MRT should not be planning for Oxford Road to be the main Manchester station for my town. The demands of my constituents and visitors is driven by destination—simply put, they need to be where they want to be.

The idea that the industry will decide what sort of service people can get confirms that, for so long, it has felt that it enjoys playing trains until it concerns the passengers. However, passengers are key, and those who choose to use the service must have it available to Deansgate, Oxford Road and Piccadilly along the Castlefield corridor. Similarly, my constituency should not be seen as a scapegoat to alleviate congestion along a busy stretch of line, for which there is no operational argument. I was deeply concerned when the MRT reported timetable changes that showed that it had always been the intention to remove my town’s direct rail links to Manchester Piccadilly under the caveat of consultation, and that the main destination of services from my town would be Oxford Road.

That was never made clear in the consultation, but it absolutely confirms my constituents’ fears that the Manchester recovery taskforce’s consultation was nothing more than a caveat to removing my town’s direct rail services. At some stage, it was always going to turn around and say, “We want to remove the direct rail service to Manchester Piccadilly. You can get off at Oxford Road instead.” I rejected the idea in 2017, when I was first elected, and I reject it now, as do the overwhelming majority of my constituents who responded to the consultation.

I urge the Minister to ensure that the Northern franchise continues to provide a direct service between Southport and Manchester Piccadilly on the mainline, and not just for Oxford Road. There has to be a sufficient number of services at the right time and with enough seats, so that people can use the service that they need. My constituents want the services restored and, at best, strengthened. Some might say it is natural for me, as the local Member of Parliament, to stand up and say that for my constituents, but it matters beyond my constituency.

Some people using the services to Manchester Piccadilly are not from my constituency but get on at my station. As I have said, this issue affects a number of hon. Members’ constituencies, just as it affects large areas of Lancashire and Merseyside. Instead of using the trains, some of my constituents have already started to drive to Manchester because of the reduced service. If that is the trend, it will likely increase the chance of one of the three proposed changes put forward by the Manchester recovery taskforce being implemented. How does that help our 2050 climate target? How does that achieve levelling up?

We want more people to use the trains, but we will not achieve that if services are cut off from entire communities such as mine. We want the country’s economy to thrive. It is right that we level up across the UK—an idea that my constituents fully support—but levelling up is not a wonderful esoteric prize that only a few should benefit from. It must apply to all parts of the country. Good train services matter to my constituents, and are crucial if we are to build back better from the pandemic and strengthen our economy for us all. I urge everyone involved—the Minister, Transport for the North, Network Rail and the Department for Transport—to do everything to ensure that my constituents continue to have the train services that they need. We must continue to see people using the trains bringing people from Manchester and Wigan to my constituency, and from Southport to Manchester, to provide opportunities to access good jobs and education.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

The debate left the station on time at 1605 and must arrive at its destination on time, no later than 1635. I call the Rail Minister.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Chris Heaton-Harris)]

This debate is all about the destination of the train. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. This is my first time responding to a debate in this place, and I look forward to going back to Westminster Hall. Some would say I look forward to its coming home—forgive my voice; I might have been singing that a bit last night.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Damien Moore) on securing this debate on rail services between his constituency and Manchester. As he demonstrated in his words, he genuinely is a hard-working, straightforward representative of his constituents. He does not mess around. I have enjoyed my interactions with him. He always finds a way of getting his way, and I hope that I can work with him to assuage some of his worries. Currently, there are just not enough passengers on our trains, so we need to get people back.

As my hon. Friend is aware, we have a rich railway history that put this country on the world stage with its Victorian pioneers, its ingenuity and engineering achievements. To continue that legacy, the Government have outlined plans that will continue to take our rail network forward. Thanks to record levels of funding that will help us to build back better, as my hon. Friend said, as we recover from the pandemic, we will also deliver the biggest modernisation programme that the railway has seen for more than a century.

Since 2010, we have invested £29 billion in northern transport. The 2020 Budget also committed to invest £4.2 billion in intra-city transport settlements from 2022-23 through five-year consolidated funding settlements for eight city regions, six of which are in the north. Capacity funding, confirmed at Budget 2021, is supporting city regions and preparing them for the settlements, and 70% of capacity funding has been allocated to city regions in the north.

More than £22 billion has been invested in phases of HS2 to deliver the essential north-south connectivity, and cross-regional rail has received a much needed boost thanks to the upgrade of the trans-Pennine mainline. Only last month we announced an extra £317 million to improve that vital route for freight and passengers, which connects Manchester, Leeds and York via Huddersfield. That comes on top of the £589 million that was put into the programme last year. A lot of investment is happening in our railways, especially in the north.

The Government are committed to levelling up the country, which is why we are planning to spend, on average, more on transport in the north compared with the south, the midlands and the east of England. A strong, effective railway is central to that ambition. As the country moves out of the pandemic, it gives us an opportunity to introduce a new era for the railway that puts the passenger at the heart of everything we do.

My hon. Friend will no doubt have heard about the plans to reform Britain’s railways with a new public body, Great British Railways, which will simplify our railways and deliver more simple, modern fares, and will bring about a financially sustainable railway that is fit for our times. The plan for rail will prioritise punctuality, reliable services and the passenger. Our trains in the north are already delivering that. Records show that more than 90% of services have been on time in recent months. However, there is much work to be done. Passengers travelling on some areas of the network are not getting the service that they deserve, and for too long people in Manchester and wider afield have suffered train delays and cancellations due to the congestion that my hon. Friend outlined around the city.

In January 2020, a taskforce made up of industry experts was formed to identify options to tackle that. I do not have to remind my hon. Friend what happened in May 2018, when infrastructure not being delivered, overpromising on a timetable and industrial action combined to deliver unbelievably poor service and cancellations on the rail system for his constituents and many others across the whole country. We need to avoid that, because when passengers come back they will expect to travel on a reliable, resilient and very clean railway. The work that commenced in January 2020 is focused on Manchester, but it recognises that the issues of rail congestion in the city itself are felt across the whole of the north, including my hon. Friend’s constituency of Southport.

At the centre of all this is the need to improve immediate rail performance in the north to provide a train service now, as well as an infrastructure plan for the medium term, that works for passengers and freight, and that will support the growing economy of Manchester and the north as a whole. With that in mind, the taskforce conducted a root-and-branch review of the timetable and consulted on three possible options, as my hon. Friend said, earlier this year. In doing so, the taskforce, which includes Transport for the North and Transport for Greater Manchester, aimed to strike a balance between providing a high-performing railway that will benefit all passengers into Manchester—before the pandemic, more than 150,000 people a day—versus changes in journey patterns for a relatively small percentage of people.

That is a big choice. It also aligns with Greater Manchester’s 2019 rail prospectus, which recognised that a simpler service pattern on the Network Rail network was necessary in the short term. That may mean that passengers need to change between services to complete their journey, but it will ultimately result in services that are reliable and punctual, which is always at the top of people’s list of priorities. The taskforce estimates that a regular commuter into Manchester could benefit by up to one hour a month in reduced delays compared with the pre-covid timetable that performed so poorly.

More than 800 people and organisations gave feedback to that consultation, which has been invaluable in developing a solution. Indeed, my hon. Friend gave great feedback to it, along with a host of experts that he brought to the table, once again, as he would say, to make that point. Although there was broad acceptance that we could not go back to the old timetable, one of the strongest areas of feedback was on access to the southern side of Manchester from Southport and Wigan. I have met my hon. Friend on a number of occasions, with and without officials, to discuss the matter. We had a very long meeting in March following a one-to-one briefing that was arranged between Northern Rail and a representative from the Ormskirk, Preston and Southport Travellers’ Association to explain the thinking and choices involved in option development.

The taskforce has really gone out of its way to reflect carefully on the representations, and continues to work closely with local transport authorities on revisions that aim to address as many concerns raised as possible, including those of my hon. Friend and his constituents. We have also given room for extra consideration by agreeing to defer any major changes until December 2022, so that we have the time to get this right. The revised proposals for a new timetable structure will soon be considered by the political leaders in Transport for the North, as well as by me and other Ministers, after which I hope to make a public announcement, including a formal response to the consultation. The train operators will then lead a further consultation in the autumn on the fine detail of a new timetable, before moving towards implementation.

It is recognised that that is not a long-term fix. Manchester is a major railway hub that fuses the needs of inter-city travel with local commuters and a huge and growing amount of freight traffic. There is no easy solution to the congestion problems, but improving the infrastructure will be critical. To address that, we are developing an ambitious programme of infrastructure improvements across the decade. The first business cases are being finalised now; once they are agreed, the work will be finished around 2025. It includes improvements from new passenger information technology to extra platforms across Greater Manchester and the city centre.

But there is much more to do to make Manchester’s network ready for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. The plans for the medium and longer term include resignalling and remodelling some of the busiest stations and reconfiguring very complex junctions. The designs and business cases are also being developed and are expected to be ready by 2023.

Work is happening on the ground now. In March, Network Rail was instructed to start work on lengthening platforms across Greater Manchester to accommodate the longer six-carriage trains that are now a regular feature across the north. We are making sure that stations have the platform capacity to accommodate them; work on that is due to finish in 2023. As part of a £500 million investment, TransPennine Express has introduced three new fleets into its passenger service, providing 13 million extra seats a year.

Likewise, another £500 million has been invested in 101 new trains for Northern, providing more space for customers, including wheelchair users, and consigning the old Pacers to history—something my hon. Friend both worked towards and campaigned for. Those longer trains can carry more passengers and are faster, and they use the latest technology to reduce emissions and journey times. They have also created new jobs in the region, as can be seen in the recently opened state-of-the-art maintenance and servicing depot, which is important to what we are doing at Wigan. These changes are significant, but by working together on a package of projects that deliver reliability and reflect passenger demand, they really will make a difference.

Elsewhere, I would like to reassure my hon. Friend that his bid to the restoring your railway ideas fund to improve connectivity by reinstating the Burscough curves is currently being considered. Outcomes of the bidding round are expected to be announced in the next few weeks.

I conclude by thanking my hon. Friend for securing this debate and rightly shining a spotlight on rail services between Southport and Manchester. The railway provides a vital lifeline for many people across the north, and the Government are committed to modernising the network as part of their wide-reaching levelling-up agenda. I reassure my hon. Friend and the House that a tremendous amount of work is being done, which aims to provide for a faster, more reliable network for all. Through a combination of infrastructure work and timetable changes, it will make a positive difference to everybody who travels on our services across the north. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend to make sure that it works for his constituents as well.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

We have arrived at our destination ahead of time.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I am very sorry to hear about what the hon. Gentleman’s local Labour council has been doing with the traffic situation there. I will ensure that the Roads Minister meets urgently with Ealing Council to try to address his concerns, and those of other Ealing Members, over their traffic process.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

[R] Will Transport Ministers ensure that funding for a new junction 10A on the A14 at Kettering is provided in road investment strategy 3? Otherwise, with 2,700 new houses expected to have been built in the new Hanwood Park development by that time, traffic will grind to a halt in Kettering, Barton Seagrave and Burton Latimer.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that issue. I believe he met my noble Friend the Roads Minister just last week to press the case once again. Highways England is undertaking a full technical review of the options for that junction, to obtain certainty over project costs. That will inform future decisions about how to proceed.

Future of the Coach Industry

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2020 Westminster Hall

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under you today, Dr Huq.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) on securing this debate on an issue that affects so many small businesses right across the country. In normal times, their industry is worth about £7 billion, and it is fundamentally a healthy and profitable industry. I could go down the list of all the things that it does, but I will not do so, for time’s sake.

Operators—small-scale entrepreneurs who spent years building up their businesses—are doing everything they can to stay afloat. However, bookings are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until the summer of 2021. Many operators face a drop in income of around 90%—for example, Jewels Tours faced a revenue shortfall of that amount. At the same time, their fixed outgoings remain the same: payments on vehicles, monthly maintenance and so on. The summer months provided some respite, but they could hardly be profitable, because of the social distancing requirements.

Those businesses have made significant investment in their infrastructure. They have high fixed costs in servicing their financial investment. For instance, over the past six years, Grange Travel has invested over £6 million in upgrading its fleet to satisfy regulatory demands. One operator applied through their bank for a coronavirus business interruption loan. Despite having an excellent credit score and the scheme being Government backed, they were declined, leading them to go to a broker and have a debenture attached to their business. As a result, they are having difficulty getting other finance. They now face a winter with hugely suppressed demand, the liability of a high fixed-cost base and little or no support outside the furlough scheme. They face going out of business. Yet this is a viable industry, which supports our own domestic hospitality and tourism sectors.

The key asks on behalf of this suffering industry, as voiced by businesses in my constituency, are as follows. First, the Government should stand as guarantor with finance companies. Secondly, they should come to an arrangement with the industry to provide further finance holidays. Thirdly, grants should be made available to the several thousand coach operators in England, as has been done for big players like National Express. This industry is fighting for its future. We must support it.

A14: Junction 10a

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 Westminster Hall

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Junction 10a of the A14.

I thank you, Mr Twigg, for taking over the Chair for this debate and welcome you to your position. I thank Mr Speaker for granting this debate. I welcome the Minister to her place. I declare an interest as a member of Kettering Borough Council and the new North Northamptonshire shadow authority.

Junction 10a of the A14 does not exist. At the moment, it is just a blob on a Department for Transport map, but it is a junction that the people of Kettering very much need if our town and borough are not to grind to a halt because of all the new house building taking place locally. There are important plans for 5,500 new houses to be built to the east of Kettering, with about 460 completed already. These will be built between the town of Kettering itself and the village of Cranford and were, in effect, imposed on Kettering Borough Council in the dying days of the previous Labour Government in spring 2010.

We have to ensure that those houses form a vital, liveable community and do not simply become one big, soulless housing estate. In order to make that happen, we must ensure not only that the infrastructure is in place to serve those new houses but that the quality of life of existing residents in other parts of Kettering is not impacted. For local people, the construction of this “sustainable urban extension”, to use the planning term, is the equivalent of bolting on to the town of Kettering itself another town the size of Desborough, which is also in the borough of Kettering, located a few miles away.

This development to the east of Kettering has been called the Kettering East development, but it is now called Hanwood Park and it received planning approval from Kettering Borough Council in 2010 for up to 5,500 new houses. The first 2,700 are within phase 1, to be followed by a further 2,800 in phase 2. Overall, the development covers an 820-acre site. Fortunately, the local design code is set at a high standard. This sustainable urban extension will allow the town of Kettering to plan the delivery of local housing. The design will ensure good internal and town centre connectivity with access to trunk roads, including the A6, the A43 and, importantly, the A14.

To place this in a national context, I should say that Hanwood Park is one of the country’s flagship housing extensions. Ministers have already toured the site on several occasions, especially when the initial release of housing with funding from the Department for Transport’s road infrastructure strategy 1—RIS 1—funding plan was fully supported. Local delivery of the houses is supported by all the local authorities and contributes to the Government’s housing targets. It sits within the Oxford-to-Cambridge arc. A funding partnership with Homes England results in the development now having a primary school, surface water attenuation, adopted foul sewers, three principal access roads and junction improvements on the town roads.

This is one of the country’s largest sustainable extensions. Homes England, which comes under the purview of the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, is funding the major early infrastructure works. There is strong delivery momentum, with Taylor Wimpey, Barratt, David Wilson, Persimmon, Avant, Orbit and Bellway all involved. The scheme is of local strategic importance and is classified as the highest priority in the north Northamptonshire investment framework, but the major hurdle to delivering these houses, which the Government need, is providing the continuous delivery of the so-called Grampian condition for the new junction 10a on the new A14. The new junction is required if the development is to exceed the initial 2,700 houses.

Local land values will not allow the development of this junction to be funded without Government intervention, and that is why we need public funding. Developer contributions exist for up to half the project. The junction was fully supported by the Department for Transport in its RIS 1 funding allocation in 2016, when the Department promised £20 million—to be matched by a further £20 million from the developer. However, there were sustainability issues with the development of the housing extension and it was agreed to defer the RIS 1 allocation to RIS 2. Since then, the junction has been excluded from RIS 2. The junction is absolutely essential to the full delivery of this 5,500-house urban extension. It needs to be provided before 2,700 houses are completed.

The extension was stalled for some time because of viability issues, but they were overcome in 2018-19 following refinancing by the developer and this was enabled by a £60 million loan from Homes England under the purview of the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The repayment of this loan to another Government Department will be at risk if the development cannot fully proceed. Homes England considers this site in Kettering to be its highest priority in the UK. Its delivery will satisfy multiple strands of Government housing policy, including, importantly, the encouragement of small and medium-sized builders and sustainable development practices. The junction works were included in the Department for Transport’s RIS1 funding stream, on the basis of a 50% contribution to the total cost by the developer. That developer commitment has not changed; the developer continues to be committed to match-funding the construction costs.

Upwards of 2,750 new homes are probably at risk if the junction cannot be secured, as the developer may cease activity fairly soon if progress beyond 2023 cannot be guaranteed. If there is a pause in the development, the local authority will no longer have a five-year rolling land supply. That renders our local area subject to speculative planning applications which, if successful, will make no contribution to local infrastructure.

Martin Hammond, the lead official at Kettering Borough Council, has said of the importance of the development:

“Delivery is now gaining momentum at Hanwood Park and new parcels are being brought on stream, alongside infrastructure constructed this year, but for the full scheme of 5,500 houses with associated community education, health, transport and employment provision, Kettering requires an additional junction on the A14, a principle established in 2014, otherwise only 2,700 houses can be occupied in the foreseeable future, which is only half of the intended development.”

The planning for a new road junction takes an incredibly long time. The local council has been advised that it can take up to four and a half years to develop such a major junction. The problem is that if the Government do not commit around about now to including funding for the junction, either as an appendage to the RIS2 scheme or for inclusion in RIS3 after 2025, the developers may pause the development because of the lack of future certainty. It is expected that the 2,700 houses mark could be reached as early as 2025.

The Government announced in August that they were setting up an acceleration unit to speed up transport infrastructure projects and build back better from covid-19. I welcome that development. It will be headed by Darren Shirley, currently the chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport and formerly of Which? magazine. The unit will be directly accountable to the Transport Secretary.

Encouragingly, the unit will engage experts with significant experience in delivering infrastructure projects, including—this is important for Kettering—Highways England’s director of complex infrastructure projects, Chris Taylor, who oversaw the construction of the £1.5 billion A14 scheme further down the road towards Cambridge, which was not only delivered on budget, but eight months ahead of schedule. No doubt Mr Taylor will be familiar with the A14 going past Kettering.

I make my plea on behalf of the local people in Kettering. The local borough council and all the local authorities have engaged with the various Government Departments at all stages of rolling out the new sustainable urban extension in Kettering, but in order to deliver the project in full, we need a commitment from the Roads Minister that the Government will contribute half the cost of the new junction. We do not need that commitment in 2025; we need the commitment now.

Unless we can get on with planning that junction and giving the developers the surety they need that the Government will deliver their funding, there is the very real risk that the roll-out of the extension will be paused and stop. The problem then is that the Government will not get the houses they need, which is primarily the responsibility of MHCLG, and there is a risk that Homes England will not get the repayment of the £60 million loan.

For local people, the tragedy will be that we could have a very large number of houses built, potentially up to 2,700, without the necessary road infrastructure to take us beyond that level. There is also a very real risk of gridlock in the town of Kettering, with all these initial houses having been provided but with the Government not having come up with the funding for the new junction 10a.

My plea to the Roads Minister today, on behalf of people in Kettering, is to recognise—please—the fundamental importance of the new junction to people in Kettering and to make a Government commitment to fund it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I am surprised that the figure 5 with “billion” after it did not answer the hon. Gentleman’s question. We are not just paying lip service; we are doing it. What he does not seem to understand about building roads is that buses run on them.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Of the £250 million in direct revenue support for bus operators, just £43 million goes to local councils outside London. We are going to need a lot more than that if we are going to reinstate local bus services in rural areas, aren’t we?

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is where the £5 billion national bus strategy, which we will be publishing shortly, comes in. Our aim is quite simply to get to a London standard of service throughout the country, including in rural areas and his constituency.