Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on improving surface access to each airport in the South East of England since 2010; and if he will make a statement.

This Government’s multi-billion investment programmes for our national road and rail networks, and funding for local authority transport improvements, includes many transport schemes that benefit people travelling to and from an airport.

However, due to the number of schemes and the mixture of capital and resource funding, information on total spending on surface access schemes improving accessibility to airports in the South East of England airports is not readily available in the format requested.

Government has, however, provided significant investment for projects which improve access to airports in the South East, for example, the £14.8 billion Crossrail scheme which will serve Heathrow airport; the £6.5 billion Thameslink Programme which increases capacity and improves reliability for passengers travelling to Gatwick and Luton airports, along with a new £53 million platform at Gatwick airport station; and the over £300 million investment on the M1 between junction 10 and 13, and the £30 million enhancements to junction 10a of the M1 that improve access to Luton airport.

Investment has also been committed for upgrades to the M4 motorway (around £750 million) near Heathrow, as well as up to £250 million on improvements to sections of the M23 serving Gatwick, and up to £25 million on improvements to the M11 improving access to Stansted airport.