Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to promote the UK's industrial heritage (a) in the North East and (b) across the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.
HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.
In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.
HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.
Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.
DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.
Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.
DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.
Asked by: Lord Carrington of Fulham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they require Network Rail to maximise income generation at each site within its estate, regardless of heritage or other impacts; and if so, whether they will publish that policy.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
There is no such policy. Network Rail is a publicly funded body, subject to Managing Public Money guidance on public spending and private finance and is held to account by The Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The ORR determines how much money Network Rail needs to run the business efficiently and to deliver the infrastructure for the UK and Scottish Governments. Business plans across the regions and its estate focus on delivering a better experience for passengers and customers. Where projects with a strong commercial case can attract private investment to deliver a better railway, this allows public funding to be invested in other areas of the network. Network Rail follows all guidance and regulations to ensure such partnerships are fully compliant with rules governing public bodies, as set out in its Framework Agreement with the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Lord Carrington of Fulham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have guidance in place preventing Network Rail from using the proceeds resulting from developing those parts of its estate with little or no heritage impact to fund high-cost improvements at sensitive heritage locations.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Any money that Network Rail makes from its property estate is reinvested into the overall running costs of the network and isn't ring fenced. Network Rail’s funding settlement targets them with generating improved returns from the estate which means they need less funding from Government to run the railway. As well as the commercial return the development proposals also focus on supporting a better experience for passengers and customers and are designed for each individual location and its specific needs.
Asked by: Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Callanan, on 17 April (HL Deb, col 518), what are the “existing licensing arrangements” in relation to the domestic demand for coal in heritage railways.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Coal Authority is the licensor for coal extraction in the UK. Businesses seeking to develop a coal operation require a coal exploration licence from the Coal Authority, as well as planning permission and other consents, before a mine can become operational.
Potential coal extraction projects seeking to supply industries such as heritage rail would need to satisfy the ‘tests’ to issuing a licence under the 1994 Coal Industry Act. These include financial viability, practical experience, and relevant permissions (such as planning).
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to the heritage railway sector to boost tourism and the enjoyment of railway heritage.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is a true pioneer in the history of railway development, benefiting from the talents of Brunel and Stephenson among many others.
Heritage railways are major contributors to the UK’s visitor economy, attracting around 13 million visitors and bringing an estimated £250 million to the economy each year. More than 3,000 people are employed on heritage railways, with a further 22,000 volunteers generously committing their time and expertise.
The unprecedented Cultural Recovery Fund provided approximately £18 million to heritage railway related organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them to reopen safely and continue to welcome visitors. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also currently undertaking the Local Visitor Economy Partnership accreditation process which will benefit heritage railways by ensuring that local tourist boards work together to boost the visitor economy across the country.
I have had a number of meetings with the Heritage Rail Association and other representatives of the sector, and keep in contact with them to discuss how else the Government can support it.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the contribution of York's rail cluster in digital and advance rail to the rail industry in the UK.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Government is committed to the future of advanced and digital rail. This is evidenced by our recent commitments to the future of rail, including the Integrated Rail Plan, a £96 billion programme to transform rail services in the North and Midlands.
York remains an important centre of railway expertise, through its long history of rail engineering and as the home to the National Railway Museum, Network Rail’s Eastern Route and the rail operator, LNER. York is also home to the largest Rail Operating Centre in the country and will have operational oversight of the pioneering East Coast Main Line upgrade. I am confident that York will continue to play a key role in helping to shape the railway of the future, through its strong heritage and through its considerable expertise in digital, data and automation.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support heritage rail.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The UK is a true pioneer in the history of railway development, nurturing and benefitting from the talents of Brunel and Stephenson among others. We are rightly proud of this legacy and must ensure that the next generation is endowed with both the skills and the passion to protect this legacy for the future.
The heritage railway sector is not only a fundamental component of our national heritage, it is an important aspect of our visitor economy with heritage railways attracting around 13 million visitors and bringing an estimated £250 million to the economy annually. It is because of this cultural and economic significance that the Government has supported the heritage rail network over the past year through its unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, which has awarded approximately £15.7 million to railway related organisations across the country.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his policy is on maintaining domestic coal supplies for the heritage rail sector.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
In line with our Net Zero target, the Government is committed to phasing out unabated coal-fired electricity generation by 2025, and recently consulted on moving this date forward to 2024. This policy applies to coal-fired power stations only – it does not apply to other coal consumers such as heritage railways.
Although coal will soon no longer be part of our electricity system, it will continue to be used as a fuel by a wide range of other industries such as the iron, steel and cement industries. We are confident that heritage railways will continue to have the option to tap into this significant domestic market. The decision on where to source coal for use in heritage railways and other industries is a private matter for the companies involved
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to include provision within Environmental Land Management scheme proposals to pay farmers and landowners to create active travel routes, including on old disused rail lines.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Beauty, heritage and engagement with the environment is an important part of our new environmental schemes.
These could support the creation of active travel routes through providing funding for access to infrastructure or for educational visits, for example. We will engage with a range of stakeholders as we develop the scheme. This includes through our tests and trials programme. Several tests and trials are considering how access can be incorporated in the new schemes.
We are working with stakeholders and end users to determine the specific land management actions that will be paid for under the Environmental Land Management scheme. We will set out more details on this later this year. 'The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024' set out examples of the types of actions that we envisage paying for under the scheme.
We'll also be testing and piloting key aspects of the new schemes in real situations with farmers and land managers beginning in 2021. This aims to learn and innovate prior to the start of an early prototype of the Sustainable Farming Incentive Scheme in 2022.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will ask Network Rail to set out a timetable for (a) the removal of graffiti, (b) the restoration of the brickwork and (c) the removal of overgrowth and vegetation on the Stockport rail viaduct.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Stockport Viaduct is a vital part of the railway infrastructure and Network Rail take seriously the responsibility to maintain it in safe working order. They carry out detailed examinations of the structure and address any defects or problems these highlight. This year Network Rail have spent £50k on repairing the brick work in areas highlighted by their examinations.
The main vegetation growth on the viaduct is buddleia which is challenging to manage as it grows so quickly. Network Rail have a specific £1m fund for Control Period 6 (1 April 2019- 31 March 2024) to be used on brick repair and de-vegetation work on the viaduct.
The viaduct is a listed structure in recognition of its importance to Stockport’s industrial heritage. Network Rail look to manage any graffiti on the viaduct in accordance with their policies and will review any specific areas of concern and will take action where appropriate.