Regional Transport Inequality

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak in a really important debate on regional transport inequality. For too long, communities in the north-east have suffered the effects of chronic underinvestment in transport and the flawed legacy of privatisation. What should be a public service has instead become a patchwork system that too often fails local people.

On the railways, the proposed LNER timetable risks cutting vital stops at Durham. For many that would mean unnecessary changes at York or Newcastle. For older people, disabled passengers and those travelling with children, that creates real barriers and makes our railways less accessible at a time when they should be opening up.

Buses tell a similar story. In Brandon, Ushaw Moor, Waterhouses and Newton Hall, people depend on services from Arriva and Go North East, yet complaints reach my inbox every week. The X20 from Langley Park to Sunderland and the 43 from Esh Winning to Durham are both unreliable, and in some villages buses simply do not run at all on Sundays or bank holidays. Too often, our area is left with the oldest buses, prone to breaking down, while the newest vehicles serve the routes in Newcastle and Sunderland. Although funding for new bus stops is welcome, my constituents ask what good they are when the services to go with them are not reliable.

There are workforce challenges too. A shortage of engineers causes delays, when our further education colleges could be supported to provide apprenticeships and skills. Locating a depot in Consett, where bad weather frequently disrupts operations, has only added to problems. Another issue is that our drivers in the region are paid less than colleagues in the north-west by the exact same companies—hardly a recipe for recruitment or retention.

All that reflects the wider picture of years of underinvestment and inequality. Had the north received the same per person transport spending as London since 2009, we would have had £140 billion more—enough to transform the system. Instead, nearly a fifth of rural bus routes have vanished in just five years, deepening isolation for many.

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is nothing more isolating than not being able to get somewhere? My constituent Elishia Ingham tried to get her mobility scooter on to a bus service but was rejected entry on to the bus because there was not enough space. Does my hon. Friend agree that even though bus companies do not have to allow that by law, they might increasingly consider the needs of disabled travellers?

[Mary Kelly Foy]

I could not agree more. Although we may improve our bus services and the types of modern buses we have, they are not accessible in all areas, and that is a huge inequality.

The Government’s Bus Services (No. 2) Bill is a chance to put this right. With franchising, fair pay and investment in modern vehicles, we can build a system that works for passengers, supports jobs and meets our climate goals. Reliable and affordable public transport should not be a luxury; it is the foundation of a fair economy and connected communities. My constituents in the City of Durham deserve no less. They deserve a transport service that serves local people, not profit, and Ministers must act to deliver it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) for securing this debate. She knows my constituency well, and will be familiar with many of the issues that I will raise.

Erewash is at the geographic and, dare I say, emotional heart of the east midlands— the halfway point between Derby and Nottingham. Long Eaton, which I represent, was scarcely on the map before the railways, and Ilkeston, like the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes), used to have its own tram. Those places are defined by industry and are inherently linked to public transportation, but by the middle of the 20th century, that legacy had been whittled away as all focus moved towards the car.

For 50 years, Ilkeston did not have a train station at all, but after years of cross-party campaigning, its new station opened in 2017. However, lots of people in Ilkeston tell me that the station has been a missed opportunity. Services are once per hour, meaning that it is not as attractive to commuters as it could be. Ilkeston is in Derbyshire, but passengers cannot even get a train to Derby from the station.

I am pleased, though, to hear discussion about the Maid Marian line again. That line would restore the link from Nottinghamshire to the Erewash valley line, perhaps enabling those new services connecting Mansfield and Derby to call at Ilkeston. At present, although the Erewash valley line bears my constituency’s name, it does not carry any local passenger services. If it were brought into more frequent use, maybe we could one day reopen the Stapleford and Sandiacre station. If we are dreaming, perhaps one day we could even bring back Draycott and Breaston station, too.

In many ways, Long Eaton was fortunate to keep its train station after the 1960s. The station has frequent services to many destinations, but there are still things that it notably lacks. The ramps up to the platform are very steep, and the lifts work only when the station is staffed, which presents real difficulties for my disabled constituents. The platform is too short, which can cause havoc for longer trains as only some doors can open.

Finally, let me address buses. The 21 bus used to link Ilkeston, Cotmanhay and Kirk Hallam directly with the Queen’s medical centre in Nottingham, one of our local major hospitals. Before the covid pandemic, the service was slashed to just once per hour, and afterwards it was slashed altogether. Now there are no direct buses from Ilkeston to the QMC, and for anyone trying to reach the hospital from Kirk Hallam by bus, it is a two-hour trip with at least two changes. It means getting a bus all the way into Derby before taking another bus, in the opposite direction, to Nottingham. It is madness.

[Samantha Niblett]

I am very familiar with my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I know that he was campaigning for good transport links way before he became an MP. On access to bus services, smaller villages such as Egginton in my South Derbyshire constituency are not served by a bus service at all. Does he agree that that truly ensures regional inequality across our country?

[Adam Thompson]

I agree completely with my hon. Friend. Indeed, for years the east midlands has languished, as my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North said in her opening remarks, on the bottom few rungs of the table for regional transport funding. I am glad that times are changing, however. The Treasury’s £2 billion commitment to transport in the east midlands earlier this year was bigger than I and colleagues in the region could ever have dreamed. I am so excited to see what transformation that investment will bring, and I will fight every day to ensure that Erewash sees the benefits of it.

If we are to have long-term change, the east midlands cannot rely on one-off awards, however. We need consistent investment, comprehensive planning reform, overhauled and empowered local government, and, in particular, changes to the Treasury rules to end the flat refusal to spend outside London and the greater south-east. Those are all positive prospects brought forward by this Government, and I look forward to seeing them become law.

Pavement Parking

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I represent a semi-rural constituency, and one of its gorgeous little market towns, Melbourne, famously—or so it seems to me—has a high street where cars have to park a bit on the pavement, which is super-skinny because the road is super-skinny. If they did not do so, cars would speed down the road. It is a never-ending circle of challenge.

I would welcome councils and local authorities having the power to fine. We all know that pavement parking gets on everybody’s nerves. We see it on online community groups, where people share photos of people parking selfishly. This is not just about parking on skinny little pavements, but about selfishly parking where there is plenty of space to park on the road. Will the Government consider an awareness campaign to ask people to be a bit more considerate?

Road Safety Powers: Parish and Town Councils

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

In South Derbyshire, we have created a network between my office and that of parish councils across the constituency. Several parish councils have raised the issue of road safety, from Repton all the way down to Overseal. They have carried out community speed watches, and made recommendations in a report about how we can make our roads safer, including by having a crossing right across the road from a school, improving safety on roads where haulage vehicles go up and down despite the fact that those roads are unsuitable, and using variable speed limits. Does my hon. Friend agree that those parish councillors are the best people to make recommendations about what should be carried out in their local communities?

[Sam Rushworth]

That is exactly the point I am making and I welcome my hon. Friend’s intervention.

Road Safety

Samantha Niblett Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andy MacNae]

I fully agree with the hon. Gentleman—indeed, that is the main subject that I will try to focus on today. It is hugely important that we listen to our communities, because in the end, not only do our communities know best, but they are the ones who experience the consequences of these decisions.

Burnley Road is very heavily used by large commercial vehicles, and there have been numerous close calls with those vehicles as well. Residents see them speeding or travelling in convoy, too often with their driver on a mobile phone. This is a massive concern around the local primary school, which—like many in Rossendale and Darwen—is sited directly on the main road. Last year, two big wagons managed to crash into each other just outside the school. Narrow pavements and a lack of safe crossing areas further increase the risk, and it is hardly a surprise that many parents are reluctant to let their kids walk even a short distance to school. I cannot think of anyone who rides a bike there.

[Samantha Niblett (South Derbyshire) (Lab)]

In my constituency, we have the busy A444, which runs from Stanton right through to Acresford on the border with North West Leicestershire. That road has varying speed limits along its length. It is a huge concern to the community; we have large articulated lorries travelling very fast on that road, sometimes on very skinny roads. We also have a primary school close to Stanton where there is no close pelican crossing, so there is no safe way for families with young children to cross the road and get them to school. My community feels very much that highways authorities do not listen to sense when it comes to speed limits. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is time for us to work with local communities and reconsider their involvement in how rules are made for the application of speed limits and where we put crossings?

[Andy MacNae]

I agree 100% with my hon. Friend. She has framed her example tremendously well—the greatest fear that most of us have is that combination of primary schools, unsafe roads and large vehicles. Sadly, that can only end one way.