§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Touhig.]
10.52 pm§ Mr. Brian Cotter (Weston-super-Mare)I am delighted to have the opportunity to debate a subject that is very important to my constituents. Integrated transport will be the way of the future. It means implementing transport policies that work with, not against, each other, offer genuine alternatives, especially to private car users, and better address the needs of rural and urban areas alike.
An integrated transport strategy must put people at its heart. Lack of access to affordable and reliable transport cuts people off from essential services and from their family and friends, and can limit employment opportunities.
Weston-super-Mare lost its bus station in 1986. The site was sold off by the bus company, the station demolished and a block of flats built in its place. A local resident was quoted in the local Mercury newspaper shortly after my election as saying:
It was the worst day of our lives when our old bus station was sold off and demolished. It has left retired and disabled bus users, not to mention tourists, out in the cold.That sums it up well.Weston is a seaside resort and is well worth a visit. As a holiday destination it needs to offer a warm welcome to visitors. I am pleased to say that residents and those involved in the tourism industry do a great job in making it a nice place to stay, but sometimes first impressions count. What first impression do visitors to Weston arriving by bus or coach get?
The tourist information office in Weston told me that the current situation is, at best, confusing. People, especially tourists, do not know where buses leave from and, as there are currently several bus focus areas, it can be difficult to direct them precisely. The office says that it has to handle a lot of queries about transport issues, thereby reducing the time available to help people with tourism issues. Problems are caused on the sea front, where day trippers come in coaches that interfere with the usual bus stopping areas. Local buses have to double park, causing congestion and a possible safety hazard.
One of the workers at the local disability information service told me what happened when she was waiting at the main car park in the town centre, which is used by some national coach companies as a pick-up point. She was waiting for a 1 am coach to Dover, but the coach did not arrive until 5 am because of a breakdown. She was with a group of 20 people, many of them elderly and frail, and the conditions were freezing. There was no shelter, nowhere to sit down and no information about what was happening. Had there been a bus station, that need not have happened.
Another situation arose when an elderly lady came to Weston for a week's holiday. She was dropped off by the coach on the sea front at 8 pm, but her hotel was some way away. There was no telephone, no taxi service, no shops open and no toilets. After carrying her case through the rain for nearly an hour to her hotel, it took her two days to recover and, naturally enough, she does not intend to come back to Weston.
669 Since 1986, there has been continuing demand for a bus station and transport interchange in the town. We need to see true integration of services, bringing together north Somerset council, First Bus, Southern National, National Express, Great Western Trains, and Wales and West Trains in a genuine transport focus. Hand in hand with that would be through-ticketing on buses and trains, which should be easy because Badgerline and Great Western are owned by the same company.
People in Weston and elsewhere have concerns about the sale of railway land. One site in Weston is up for grabs, but it should be considered as a possible site for transport integration. A bus station would provide shelter, security, information and refreshment for visitors and residents alike. A high quality interchange system centred around a bus station, the town centre and the railway station would enable people conveniently to mix and match bus, train, walking, car and bicycle.
North Somerset council does not have the budget to build a bus station, but the mega-rich First group, which now owns Bristol airport, runs Great Western Trains and has a near monopoly of bus routes in my part of the west country, certainly has the resources. I would like the Government to take on the bus giants and demand better investment in bus services throughout Britain.
Those of my constituents who live in rural areas often say to me that the Government are more concerned about the problems of urban areas and cities than they are about village life and the countryside. In fact, one in four of my constituents lives in the rural areas around Weston-super-Mare. The villages of north Somerset make a wonderful place to live—I should know because I live in one of them—but the people who live in them are being forced into their cars by inadequate public transport links. North Somerset council subsidises the bus company, mostly in rural areas, by some £250,000 a year. Despite that, too many villages have expensive and inadequate bus links.
An extraordinary story appeared in the papers this morning about Badgerline, the bus company that serves my constituency. A fully loaded bus ground to a halt half way up a hill. The driver had to ask the passengers to disembark. He then drove to the top of the hill and waited for the passengers to catch up so that they could carry on with their trip. It is bizarre for a bus company to be unable to run its buses properly. The last time I heard such a story was in a Postman Pat book. As it happens, that all took place in the nearby town of Bath, not in my constituency.
Local authorities try to respond to transport needs, but they have little power to oblige bus and train operators to compete with the car instead of with each other. At the moment, those operators have to give only minimal notice if they alter services. That is not conducive to providing high-quality information, nor to winning passengers' loyalty.
Local authorities spend thousands of pounds promoting the use of buses by means of timetables, route maps, new bus shelters and anti-drink driving campaigns—all of which provide free publicity for the bus companies. However, councils get no return on the money spent. The bus companies have complete control of timetables, fares, routes, and so on.
670 The village of Hutton in my constituency had an important link to the local hospital that was broken recently. The village has many elderly residents, and that was a major blow. The bus company responded by saying that the route was not profitable. Increasingly, it is being left to cash-strapped local authorities to keep open such routes, which can be lifelines. Rural communities need lower fares and more convenient and accessible services, so that public transport can be a realistic alternative in people's transport needs.
The Government must take a lead in guaranteeing decent service levels for communities such as those in north Somerset. Traffic problems will get worse if action is not taken. Banwell village in my constituency has the highest level of air pollution in the district. The pollution is caused by the dense, slow-moving or stationary traffic on the A371 that goes through the village. It is worth stating that benzine and nitrogen dioxide—the pollutants associated with high levels of road traffic—exacerbate the symptoms of people, and especially of children, suffering from lung disease. They also promote the development of cancers and reduce the supply of oxygen to the heart. All those health issues are very serious.
Many small villages are becoming more dangerous and unpleasant to live in and visit because of the growth in traffic. The Council for the Protection of Rural England has estimated that traffic in rural areas could double by 2025. In places such as Banwell, village life is being choked to death. Something must be done.
The provisional local transport plan submitted to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions by North Somerset council includes a proposal to undertake an assessment of transport options for relieving Banwell, and the possibility of a bypass. I urge that a more detailed study be made. I would strongly support that. I also urge that prompt action be taken, with Government support, to follow it up.
Congresbury, the village in which I live, lies on the B3133, a narrow country lane linking my village with the village of Churchill. However, in common with all too many lanes in our country, it is used as a rat run—in this case, between the bigger A370 and the A38. The B3133 is used in particular by heavy goods vehicles, which cause considerable damage to the road and to the properties alongside it. Some walls have been knocked down, and some buildings demolished, by HGVs using the road.
Action must be taken to stop heavy lorries using country lanes as rat runs. The damage caused by lorries using inappropriate roads can be reduced by establishing strategic lorry routes with direction signing and restrictions on weight and height. Indeed, North Somerset council agrees that the only solution is to establish such a strategy for sustainable freight distribution. However, it states that it is not in a position to commence any work to that end. I hope that the Minister will consider ways in which the Department can support the authority in making the matter a priority.
Recently, the problem in rural areas in my constituency was compounded by simultaneous road works on the M5, the A370 and the A38, which are all link roads into Weston-super-Mare. The result, in addition to lengthy traffic jams on the roads concerned, was to encourage traffic to make even more rat runs through villages and along country lanes. We should appreciate it in Weston-super-Mare and in other areas if the Government 671 could ensure that roadworks were better planned so that not all main roads in an area were dug up at the same time.
Finally, the Government's transport Bill proposes to establish a Strategic Rail Authority, which will no doubt help to repair the damage done by rail privatisation. Still absent, however, are proposals for a strategic transport authority that would cover all forms of transport. That is critical if true integration of transport is to be achieved. People in my constituency want and deserve a truly integrated transport system that will help to tackle the problems experienced in towns and villages alike. I look forward to hearing what the Minister hopes to do about these issues.
§ 11.5 pm
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Mr. Keith Hill)May I begin, as is usual, by congratulating the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (Mr. Cotter) on securing the debate? May I also thank him for his courtesy in giving me notice of the key issues that he intended to raise? Let me reassure him immediately that the Government are fully committed to improving the transport system in Weston-super-Mare, and, indeed, in north Somerset and the whole country.
We want a system that is safe, efficient, clean and fair, and we want everyone to be able to have better choice in transport. We will do that by improving public transport, and traffic management and road maintenance, and by creating a more integrated transport system. Before turning to the Government's general progress in implementing our commitment to a more integrated transport system, I would like to respond to some points that the hon. Gentleman made about transport issues in and around Weston-super-Mare.
Each local transport authority is required to prepare a local transport plan, setting out its strategy for transport together with proposals to carry that strategy forward. The provisional local transport plan for north Somerset is currently being assessed by my officials in the Government Office for the South West, so I must be careful not to comment on the merits of proposals in the plan or to speculate on the likely allocation of resources. However, I can make some general observations about the plan.
In preparing the plan, I understand that the council invited wide public participation on how it should address transport needs in its area. To achieve effective participation, five stakeholder workshops were established to maximise local information and to build a consensus about the way forward, while also thinking about the wider context. Each workshop contained a mixture of interests, including Government, statutory authorities, interest groups and organisations, and citizens and users. The workshops were locally based and one covered Weston-super-Mare and surrounding areas. The Government very much welcome North Somerset council's approach in involving local people in the development of its plan.
The process highlighted the perception among people in the district that public transport currently offers a poor alternative to the car. The plan also highlights the problems of congestion on the M5 and the A370 and the problems of heavy lorries using country roads. The hon. 672 Gentleman has already expressed his concerns on these subjects in correspondence with Ministers as well as in the debate.
The plan acknowledges that air pollution levels are high in some places. North Somerset council will need to consider drawing up action plans on air quality where it does not meet acceptable standards. The hon. Gentleman is particularly concerned about that problem in Banwell, as a result of heavy lorries using the main road though the village. He will be aware that the provisional local transport plan identifies a bypass as one option for relieving the village's traffic problems.
The plan also identifies a wide range of opportunities for improving public transport and for addressing other transport issues in the district. These include increasing the frequency of both rail and bus services, more park-and-ride schemes, bus priority measures, and fully integrated ticketing. Meanwhile, new measures have already been introduced, including a quality partnership between North Somerset council and First Badgerline buses. The aim of the partnership is to achieve joint measures that will promote the use of local bus services, including investigating the development of a flexible feeder system linking rural bus services with those along main routes.
The council proposes to develop a database, which will be used for a telephone inquiry service and also for keeping an electronic record of all bus stop locations. I am also aware that the council has, together with local partners, applied for funding through the rural bus challenge. We are currently considering that and other bids, and hope to make an announcement shortly.
The hon. Gentleman made some observations about inadequate rural bus services. I understand that North Somerset council did not make a bid for the Government's rural bus grant scheme—funding of about £170 million over three years—that has led to the development of 1,800 new and refurbished bus routes in our rural areas nationwide.
North Somerset council has made it clear that it has not been able to make as much progress as it would have liked on some of the elements in the provisional plan. However, I understand that the council will be developing more detailed proposals during the next few months, for inclusion in the full local transport plan to be submitted next summer.
Clearly, it is for the council to decide the content of its local transport plan. However, guidance issued to all local transport authorities points to the need for plans to address a wide range of transport issues, including those relating to public transport interchanges, rural bus services, air quality and the transportation of freight—matters to which the hon. Gentleman referred.
As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Government have taken major steps in promoting a more integrated transport system. Our White Paper on the future of transport, which we published within 18 months of being elected, was the first comprehensive statement of transport policy for nearly 20 years. For the first time, we want to integrate transport policy with other key related matters, such as the environment, health, education and land-use planning. The White Paper sets out the framework for sustainable transport for this and the next Parliament, and beyond.
673 Of course, we realise that motorists will not readily switch to public transport unless it is significantly better and more reliable. That is why the aim of the White Paper is to increase choice by improving public transport and providing better conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. To do that, we are committed to providing more resources for local transport—the comprehensive spending review allocated a further £700 million over the next three years. As I pointed out, we are also spending an extra £170 million on rural buses.
In order to put those new measures into practice, we published the new Transport Bill last Wednesday. The Bill contains measures to promote the use of railways through the Strategic Rail Authority, to improve bus services and to reduce road congestion and pollution. From time to time, there have been questions about the apparent delay in introducing that legislation. The truth is that there are no instantaneous solutions, and much preparatory work was required to enable us to identify policies to overcome the failures of the past 20 years.
We inherited high and growing levels of road traffic congestion, poor public transport, inadequate provision for pedestrians and cyclists, and significant under-investment in road maintenance. Nevertheless, we have already made significant headway through increased investment, especially in public transport and road maintenance. The measures contained in the Bill pave the way for the modern, effective transport system that the country needs and deserves.
The Bill establishes the Strategic Rail Authority, to which the hon. Gentleman referred. The mission of the SRA will be to promote the use of the railways for passengers and freight, to secure the development of the railway network, and to contribute to an integrated transport system. The Bill also recognises the fact that buses are crucial to the success of our integrated transport system and can provide a real alternative to car use. It therefore gives local authorities the power to improve local bus services through quality partnerships and quality contracts. About 130 such partnerships have already been established, voluntarily, throughout the country—often leading to major increases in bus usage of between 10 and 40 per cent. The Bill also includes provisions to improve passenger information, to encourage integrated ticketing and to promote service stability.
In addition, the Bill gives local authorities new powers to introduce charges on congested roads and to introduce workplace parking charges. The money raised will be put back into improving local transport, improving choice and tackling congestion.
674 As I said earlier, it will be for local authorities to put those and other measures into practice. We believe that local people are best placed to find local solutions to local transport problems. That is why we have introduced local transport plans as a centrepiece of our proposals. Those are replacing the existing transport policies and programmes system of annual submissions, and provide a more strategic, longer term view.
Local transport plans set out authorities' strategies for transport, and will be the key mechanism for pulling all that activity together locally. They include all forms of transport and set out proposals for implementation, including road user and workplace parking charges, and bus quality partnerships. There will also be greater certainty of funding for local authorities and significantly greater local discretion over the allocation of resources.
As a first stage in that process, all county and unitary authorities have now submitted their provisional five-year plans, on the basis of which resources will be allocated for the next financial year. Authorities will then roll their plans on by one year and next summer will submit full plans for the period from 2001 to 2006. We are currently assessing the provisional plans, and will shortly be announcing the allocation of resources for next year.
From the feedback so far, it would seem that authorities are responding positively to the challenge of producing local transport plans. They have overwhelmingly welcomed the national policy framework and the process of preparing plans is acting as a positive force for change.
Although a great deal of work has already been done to improve public transport in this country, we recognise that much more needs to be done to implement the measures in the White Paper. We are fully committed to establishing a new and better transport system, and to ensuring that the necessary financial resources are in place. The national framework has now been put fully in place with the publication of the new Transport Bill, and it is now for local authorities to take matters forward.
At a local level, North Somerset council is clearly committed to creating a more integrated transport system in its district. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will appreciate that is too early for me to speculate on the outcome of the local transport plan process in North Somerset or on the work that needs to be done in preparing a full plan for submission next year. However, the position on the provisional plan will become clearer when the allocations are made for the new financial year, and I can assure the hon. Gentleman that an announcement on that will be made very shortly.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly at eighteen minutes past Eleven o'clock.