Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department is making on negotiations with the French government on the recognition of UK Blue Badges in that country.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Government remains committed to confirming the status of UK issued Blue Badges for motorists visiting Europe. Twenty countries have already committed to recognising Blue Badges and are listed on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-badge-using-it-in-the-eu/using-a-blue-badge-in-the-european-union
Discussions continue with a number of countries. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the progress of discussions while they are on-going.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What steps he is taking to increase rail capacity in Gloucester.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In the new timetable starting on 15 December Great Western Railway increases the frequency of through train services between London Paddington and Gloucester from every two hours to hourly. There will also be earlier first and last trains.
The new through trains will be operated by new Intercity Express Trains, providing far more capacity than the shorter local diesel trains they replace.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to put out to tender the preliminary outline design for the proposed Gloucester to Cheltenham cycle route; and what the timeframe is for the announcement of the successful bidder for that tender.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Gloucester to Cheltenham Cycle Route is a Highways England-led project to provide an alternative route to the A40 for cyclists, using local roads. Preliminary design is currently being undertaken by Highways England’s designers and there is no formal tender process for this element of the work. The scheme is being developed with Gloucestershire County Council as it will use their road network and is due to be delivered in early 2020.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will take steps to produce a national strategy to prevent vehicles parking on pavements.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport convened a roundtable meeting with external stakeholders, including some local authorities, in March 2016 following the withdrawal of my Hon Friend, the Hon Member for North Dorset’s (Simon Hoare) Private Member’s Bill, which sought to ban pavement parking nationally. A possible pavement parking ban in the rest of England outside London was discussed. However, it was identified at the roundtable that the major concerns affecting the ability to introduce and enforce a pavement parking prohibition were issues relating to the processing of Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). We plan to launch a survey in Summer 2017 in order to gather evidence about the current situation, the costs and timescales for processing TROs, and information about options for change.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers local authorities have to prevent vehicles parking on pavements.
Answered by Andrew Jones
There is a general ban on pavement parking in London (except where expressly permitted). Outside London, Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 prohibits heavy goods vehicles from parking on the pavement. Other vehicles may park on the pavement unless the council choose to prohibit it by means of a Traffic Regulation Order under powers in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Yellow lines also apply to the pavement. Other options include the use of physical measures, such as high kerbs or bollards.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains per day there were travelling between Birmingham and Bristol that stopped at Gloucester in (a) the last year and (b) 2001.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
(a) In the current December 2016 timetable, which applies between11 December 2016 and 20 May 2017, CrossCountry operate the following number of services between Birmingham and Bristol which call at Gloucester:
Day | Southbound | Northbound |
Monday to Friday | 2 | 1 |
Saturday | 1 | 1 |
Sunday | 1 | 1 |
(b) CrossCountry have operated the current franchise since 2007. In 2001 when the franchise was operated by Virgin Trains, the following services were provided between Birmingham and Bristol which call at Gloucester:
Day | Southbound | Northbound |
Monday to Friday | 8 | 6 |
Saturday | 8 | 7 |
Sunday | 6 | 7 |
The information for 2001 in table (b) is based on the September 2000 timetable compiled by Railtrack (now Network Rail), which applied between 24 September and19 May 2001 and constitutes the only information available to the Department for Transport. Numbers of services on Saturdays and Sundays were subject to minor fluctuation, dependent on when engineering works were scheduled during the September 2000 to May 2001 timetable.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many CrossCountry trains from (a) Birmingham to Bristol and (b) Bristol to Birmingham via Gloucester were on time in (i) each of the last five years and (ii) each year from 1998 to 2003.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the information at the level of detail requested.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times in the last year CrossCountry trains travelling from Birmingham to Bristol were late arriving at Cheltenham but on time arriving at Bristol Temple Meads.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the information at the level of detail requested.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the (a) negotiations and (b) consultation on the Cross Country franchise direct award to begin.
Answered by Claire Perry
Our current franchising programme envisages a directly awarded franchise will be awarded to Cross Country when the current franchise expires in October 2016. Discussions regarding this will commence later this year and we will engage fully with all relevant stakeholder groups as well as passenger groups as part of these discussions.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to build new, and upgrade existing, trunk roads.
Answered by John Hayes
Government has published the first ever Road Investment Strategy, setting out how £15 billion will be invested in over 100 schemes on England’s motorway and trunk road network between 2015 and 2021. The south west of England will benefit from 7 new schemes worth around £2 billion, and in Gloucestershire we have committed to developing a proposal to improve the A417 ‘missing link’ to dual carriageway standard, taking account of both the environmental sensitivity of the site and the importance of the route to the local economy.