John Bercow
Main Page: John Bercow (Speaker - Buckingham)Department Debates - View all John Bercow's debates with the Department for Transport
(8 years, 1 month ago)
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Andrew Jones
An element of the road investment strategy is to promote cycling and we also have the cycling and walking investment strategy, which has already been mentioned.
Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)
5. What steps his Department is taking to increase the frequency of trains between Birmingham and Telford.
Claire Perry
We are clear in our franchising agreements that improvements to stations are absolutely part of those projects. The hon. Gentleman has benefited locally, with Virgin West Coast installation of automatic ticket machines at Coventry station. I was pleased to participate in the opening of the Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park stations, to which the Department contributed almost £5 million, the first stage of the vital Nuckle scheme. That scheme was 14 years on paper under Labour; delivered under this Government thanks to the amazing efforts of the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr Jones).
James Berry (Kingston and Surbiton) (Con)
When we consider rail station refurbishments, one of the things that we should prioritise is disabled access. On the Chessington branch in my constituency there is not a single accessible station. In the renewal of the South Western route franchise, will the Minister therefore consider prioritising improvements to disabled access on our train stations?
Claire Perry
My hon. Friend is right that this is a vital link. The Government have contributed £10.4 million to the work. I understand that the business case will be considered by the combined authorities in April. If approved—I hope it is—the work will go ahead in June next year and be completed by May 2018. It would of course be a pleasure to meet my hon. Friend and his friends, if only to feed him some buns to keep up his weight during his marathon training.
Mr Speaker
It is always useful to have a bit of additional information. I feel sure that the House is very appreciative, not least the hon. Gentleman.
Danny Kinahan (South Antrim) (UUP)
May I thank the Minister of State for his visit to Northern Ireland? It was good to see everyone in the Union working together. He visited Belfast International airport, Lough Neagh Rescue and Wrightbus. Will he use his influence to help the various road and rail projects we saw, and help with things such as air passenger duty, enterprise zones and, of course, one day having a new runway here to improve links to Northern Ireland?
Several hon. Members rose—
Mr Speaker
Order. I am sorry. There are several colleagues who have been waiting very patiently, but I am afraid that today demand has heavily outstripped supply and we must now move on.