Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to East West Rail's report entitled 2019 Bedford to Cambridge Route Option Consultation: Public Feedback Report, whether his Department has (a) had discussions with representatives of the East West Rail Company on the provision to the public of data demonstrating the geographic distribution of consultation postcards to postcodes during the 2019 non-statutory consultation into the East West Rail route and (b) plans to require East West Rail Company to release that data.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department has had no specific discussions on the provision of this data; however I am aware that East West Rail Company is in the process of removing any personal details to ensure the data complies with data protection regulations, and will publish it on its website once this process is complete.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the latest cost estimates are for each phase of the East West Rail project; and how those costs compare with the cost estimates first submitted for each phase of the project to the Treasury.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Connection Stage One of East West Rail, enabling services from Oxford to Milton Keynes, was originally part of the ‘Western Section Phase 2’ of the programme before it was configured into Connection Stages. In the Phase 2 Outline Business Case submitted HM Treasury in 2019, the Anticipated Final Costs for Phase 2 were estimated at £1.1bn.
The current Anticipated Final Cost of Connection Stage One outlined in its Full Business Case is £1.3bn.
Plans, including costs for the other connection stages are at an early stage of maturity and still in development. We will release further details in due course.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has instructed Highways England to review their speed of response for providing permits for roadworks to enable water companies to meet their targets set by Ofwat in relation to leakage reduction.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Water companies are not required to seek permission from Highways England to work on the strategic road network (SRN), only to give notice. In cases where planned work would cause disruption or clash with other plans, Highways England may ask the water company to adjust the day or time of the planned works.
Highways England is in dialogue with the utilities industry to forge closer relationships, in order to proactively support its roads delivery programme and the industry’s requirements on the SRN.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2020 to Questions 34321 and 38037, when the audit trail which his Department is undertaking with the Rail Delivery Group to identify and validate whether the information on station classification contained in the access map is accurate will be completed; and when changes resulting from that audit trail are planned to be implemented.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Department is not undertaking any audit work with the Rail Delivery Group. We are currently trialling some accessibility audits on a small number of stations which if successful will better inform our accessibility investment decisions in the future. This is due to complete in the autumn. The Rail Delivery Group remain responsible for ensuring the accessibility data on the National Rail Enquiries website remains accurate and up to date.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what type of measurements of air quality are taken along the A1 in Bedfordshire; in which locations those measurements are so taken; what recent assessment has been made of the air quality in those locations; and if he will publish the results of the measurements taken at each of those locations in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
A monitoring station that is part of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)’s Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) is located at the roadside alongside the A1, north-west of Sandy, Bedfordshire (52.132417, -0.300306). This monitoring site measures levels of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, PM10 particulate matter and PM2.5 particulate matter. The measurement data from this monitoring site is reported in near real-time and is updated every hour and is available online on DEFRA’s UK Air website. The monitoring site was compliant with air quality limit values for the past three years.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many journeys have been undertaken on average on each day on the A1 in Bedfordshire in each of the last three years; and at which locations those traffic measurements have been taken.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
The table attached contains the data on how many journeys have been taken, on average, each day on the A1 between junctions 6 and the A1/A14, in each of the last three years. These traffic measurements have been taken from sensors embedded in the road surface at those locations also identified in the table attached.