Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether passenger demand forecasts for Thameslink services have been updated to reflect the approved expansion of London Luton Airport, planned housing growth along the route and the proposed Universal Studios development in Bedfordshire; and how those factors are being incorporated into long-term capacity planning for the Thameslink corridor.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Govia Thameslink Railway has shared demand modelling with the Department which does include projections for planned developments along the Thameslink network. The Department requires all operators to plan future timetables that reflect expected demand and provide value for money for the taxpayer. In the longer term, under Great British Railways’ directing mind, timetables and services will be optimised to drive up network performance and improve passenger journey experience.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding is available to local authorities to improve street lighting in residential areas where safety guidance is not met; and what criteria are used to allocate that funding.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The management of street lighting in England is the responsibility of local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highways in their charge, including street lighting. Authorities do not have a duty to light their networks but, where lighting has been provided, the authority has a duty to maintain it.
The Government encourages local authorities to consider best practice when making decisions about lighting on their networks and to work closely with emergency services and other key partners when considering the street lighting needs of local communities. Advice is available in the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Code of Practice for Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which references British Standards for road lighting.
The Government has confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment for local highways maintenance over the next four years, bringing annual funding to over £2 billion annually by 2029/30. This funding is provided to local authorities to maintain all parts of the highway network, including lighting columns, bridges, cycleways and footways. In addition to increasing the available funding, the Department has confirmed funding allocations for the next four years, providing greater funding certainty to local authorities. This will help them to plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and to instead invest in proactive and preventative maintenance.
The Department allocates funding to local highway authorities based on a formula, which takes account of road lengths in each authority area, as well as the number of bridges and lighting columns.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether local authorities are (a) encouraged and (b) required to upgrade street lighting to meet British Standards.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The management of street lighting in England is the responsibility of local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highways in their charge, including street lighting. Authorities do not have a duty to light their networks but, where lighting has been provided, the authority has a duty to maintain it.
The Government encourages local authorities to consider best practice when making decisions about lighting on their networks and to work closely with emergency services and other key partners when considering the street lighting needs of local communities. Advice is available in the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Code of Practice for Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which references British Standards for road lighting.
The Government has confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment for local highways maintenance over the next four years, bringing annual funding to over £2 billion annually by 2029/30. This funding is provided to local authorities to maintain all parts of the highway network, including lighting columns, bridges, cycleways and footways. In addition to increasing the available funding, the Department has confirmed funding allocations for the next four years, providing greater funding certainty to local authorities. This will help them to plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and to instead invest in proactive and preventative maintenance.
The Department allocates funding to local highway authorities based on a formula, which takes account of road lengths in each authority area, as well as the number of bridges and lighting columns.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on minimum lighting levels required on residential roads.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The management of street lighting in England is the responsibility of local highway authorities, who have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highways in their charge, including street lighting. Authorities do not have a duty to light their networks but, where lighting has been provided, the authority has a duty to maintain it.
The Government encourages local authorities to consider best practice when making decisions about lighting on their networks and to work closely with emergency services and other key partners when considering the street lighting needs of local communities. Advice is available in the UK Roads Leadership Group’s Code of Practice for Well Managed Highway Infrastructure, which references British Standards for road lighting.
The Government has confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment for local highways maintenance over the next four years, bringing annual funding to over £2 billion annually by 2029/30. This funding is provided to local authorities to maintain all parts of the highway network, including lighting columns, bridges, cycleways and footways. In addition to increasing the available funding, the Department has confirmed funding allocations for the next four years, providing greater funding certainty to local authorities. This will help them to plan ahead and move away from expensive, short-term repairs and to instead invest in proactive and preventative maintenance.
The Department allocates funding to local highway authorities based on a formula, which takes account of road lengths in each authority area, as well as the number of bridges and lighting columns.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made a recent assessment of the cumulative impact of multiple concurrent airport expansions at Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises a role for, and is supportive of, airport expansion where it provides economic growth and is compatible with our legally binding net zero target and strict environmental standards.
The Secretary of State has approved Luton and Gatwick Airport’s Development Consent Order (DCO) planning applications on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the relevant national policy and any material considerations. I can't comment on the merits of the Luton or Gatwick DCOs as legal proceedings are ongoing.
The Government is reviewing the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which provides the primary basis for decision making on DCO applications for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. As part of this we will review and update the existing Appraisal of Sustainability which includes an assessment of potential cumulative effects, in line with any amendments made to the ANPS.
Any DCO application for a third runway at Heathrow Airport will need to include an assessment of the cumulation of effects with other existing and, or approved projects in its Environmental Statement.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding her Department is providing to local authorities to improve the (a) quality and (b) accessibility of pavements for (i) wheelchair users, (ii) people with mobility impairments and (iii) other people.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department provides a range of funding streams to local authorities that can be used to improve the quality and accessibility of pavements for wheelchair users, people with mobility impairments, and other pedestrians.
In 2025/26, local authorities will receive a share of £1.6 billion highways maintenance capital funding, which includes a £500 million uplift from 2024/25. Authorities are encouraged to adopt a whole-life asset management approach, which includes maintaining footways and ensuring accessibility for all users.
In addition, the Integrated Transport Block and Local Transport Grant provide a combined total of £396 million in 2025/26 to support local transport enhancements, including improvements to pedestrian infrastructure. Eight eligible Mayoral Combined Authorities will also receive £5.7bn in funding between 2022 and 2027, to invest in local transport improvements, including enhancements to accessibility.
Beyond these funding pots, the Department has also announced dedicated funding for walking, wheeling and cycling. In the Spending Review, the Government announced £616 million for Active Travel England from 2026/27 to 2029/30 to support local authorities to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure. This is in addition to the almost £300 million funding for active travel in 2024/25 and 2025/26 which was announced in February 2025. This will help local authorities to provide high-quality and easily accessible active travel schemes across England and will enable more children to walk and cycle to school.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department (a) has considered and (b) plans to consider expanding requirements for lifesaving equipment in vehicles used for public or quasi-public purposes.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is not considering mandating public vehicles to carry defibrillators. In England outside London, commercial bus operators provide the majority of bus services and have responsibility for managing their fleets. Any decision on whether to fit buses with defibrillators is one for operators to make, and some have taken the decision to equip their depots with these.
Similarly, it would be the decision for individual taxi and private hire vehicle operators to decide to carry defibrillators.
The Department also encourages train operating companies to equip their stations with defibrillators where possible, and both Network Rail and train operators have made progress towards this in recent years.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will review the 2023 Code of Practice for Inspections to ensure that (a) the performance-based sample inspection regime does not allow utility companies to offset local failure rates against national averages and (b) sufficient incentives remain for companies to rectify defects quickly and efficiently.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport keeps all statutory guidance under regular review, including the 2023 Code of Practice for Inspections. The performance-based sample inspection regime introduced in April 2023 is designed to ensure that undertakers are inspected proportionately to their performance at the local level. Inspection rates are calculated by each highway authority based on the undertaker’s failure rate in that specific area, and cannot be offset by performance elsewhere. This ensures that poor performance in one locality is not masked by better results nationally. The Code also includes provisions to incentivise prompt and effective defect rectification. These include financial penalties, non-compliant reinstatement inspections, and escalation procedures for unresolved defects. We remain committed to working with stakeholders to ensure the inspection regime continues to uphold high standards, promote accountability, and support the efficient maintenance of the highway network.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will consider making amendments to section 81 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 to enable local authorities to levy fines on utility companies that fail to maintain street apparatus or to rectify reported defects.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Utility companies already have a duty to maintain their apparatus in the street to the reasonable satisfaction of the highway authority. Where an authority becomes aware of defective apparatus they should notify the owner of the apparatus requiring the utility company to carry out remedial works. If the undertaker fails to act, the authority has powers to undertake the repairs and recover the costs.
We recognise that some defects and substandard reinstatements remain unresolved for extended periods. To drive improved performance and address poor compliance, we introduced a performance-based inspections regime in April 2023. This approach ensures that utility companies with higher failure rates are subject to more frequent inspections and incur proportionally higher inspection fees. The regime is underpinned by data from Street Manager, which enables quarterly adjustments to inspection rates based on reinstatement outcomes.
Given that this system has only recently been implemented, we believe it is appropriate to evaluate its effectiveness before considering any further legislative changes. We will review its impact on reinstatement quality and defect resolution in collaboration with stakeholders. This will include examining whether additional enforcement mechanisms such as fines for non-compliance would be proportionate, effective, and deliver improved outcomes. Any such proposals would be subject to consultation with stakeholders and assessment of their operational and financial implications.