Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that the £500 million Access Fund is spent on sustainable transport projects.

The £500 million Access Fund is part of the Department for Transport's overall contribution to the Local Growth Fund in this spending review period. As with the majority of the Local Growth Fund it is available to Local Enterprise Partnerships to bid for and spend in line with their own priorities. LEPs are already planning to spend considerably more than £500 million on sustainable transport and we would encourage them to propose ambitious sustainable transport measures in their further growth deal bids this year.