§ Mr. SymsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much of the money allocated for the national rail network in the 10-year transport plan will be spent on(a) new signalling, (b) station improvements and (c) new rolling stock; what schemes are planned; and what progress has been made with their implementation. [141671]
§ Mr. HillThe 10-Year Plan for Transport includes £15 billion of public rail investment over the 10 years 2001–02 to 2010–11. It is estimated that, over that period, a further £34 billion of private investment can be levered in. The £49 billion of total investment consists of(a) £38 billion of enhancement and renewals investment for passenger services, (b) £7 billion of investment in passenger rolling stock and (c) £4 billion of investment in rail freight (including freight rolling stock). More detail on future expenditure will be made available in the SRA' s strategic plan to be published early next year.
§ Mr. SymsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much money his Department spent on(a) road maintenance,
£ million cash 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–199 1999–2000 Total Total roads expenditure1 4,324 3,996 3,694 3,453 3,301 3,410 22,178 of which: Road maintenance 2,825 2,609 2,456 2,440 2,556 2,781 15,667 Local road construction 400 410 360 240 162 106 1,678 Trunk road construction 1,099 977 878 773 583 523 4,833 Light rail schemes2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 497 Guided bus schemes n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3 1 Includes expenditure on road widening schemes, road building schemes, bypass schemes and junction improvements. 2 A year-by-year breakdown of Government expenditure on light rail and guided bus projects is not available. Total Government support forvarious light rail and guided bus schemes is shown.
§ Mr. SymsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much of the money allocated for light rail and bus schemes in the 10-year transport plan will be spent on(a) light rail projects, (b) guided bus schemes, (c) park and ride schemes, (d) priority route schemes and (e) improved rural travel; what schemes are planned; and what progress has been made with their implementation. [141669]
§ Mr. HillThe 10-year plan announced public expenditure of £51 billion on local transport outside London, including £1.3 billion on light rail. My Department has today announced funding for the Local Transport Settlement for the allocation of £8.4 billion of capital investment over the next five years. We envisage that up to £2.6 billion may be spent on major schemes costing more than £5 million. However, since there are many schemes for which the case is not yet sufficiently developed for us to take a view, it is not at this stage282W (b) road widening schemes, (c) road building schemes, (d) bypass schemes, (e) junction improvements, (f) light rail projects, (g) guided bus schemes, (h) park and ride schemes, (i) priority bus routes, (j) rail signal improvements and (k) the national rail network in each of the last six years. [141666]
§ Mr. HillExpenditure data for each of the last six years for all these categories are not readily available. The following table shows expenditure on national and local roads in each of the last six years and total Government support for light rail and guided bus schemes. Expenditure on park and ride schemes and priority bus routes is made via local transport settlements for which data are not available in the form requested.
Apart from level crossing grants of £32 million and £34 million in 1994–95 and 1995–96 respectively paid to Railtrack while it was still in the public sector, my Department has not spent any money directly on rail signal improvements or on the national rail network since 1 April 1994. Railtrack is responsible for maintaining, renewing and developing the national rail network, including signalling. Although my Department has made no payments direct to the company since it was privatised, its profitability is contingent on public money. Some 90 per cent. of Railtrack's income is paid to the company by train operating companies (TOCs) and freight operating companies (FOCs) in access charges, a substantial proportion of which are supported by public money.
possible to identify the precise amounts that may be spent on each of the types of scheme identified. Nor is it possible to identify all of the individual schemes that authorities may decide to take forward.
As regards light rail, we have given a provisional view that two extensions to the Midland Metro, costing £165 million, pass our economic appraisal tests. We hope to make further announcements on schemes proposed for Leeds, South Hampshire, and Bristol and South Gloucestershire shortly.
We are providing funding of £10 million for the Crawley Fastway guided bus scheme and giving provisional approval for the Chester Deeside Transport System guided bus scheme (subject to Transport and Works Act powers being obtained and a revised economic appraisal). We have also given a provisional view that the Leigh guided bus scheme passes our economic appraisal tests.
283WThe Settlement should allow authorities to provide up to 120 new or improved park and ride facilities. Among the major schemes that we are approving, there is provision of park and ride facilities in Taunton (funding totalling £6 million), Plymouth (£5 million), Salisbury (£14 million) and Bradford (£15 million).
We expect up to 4,500 km of bus routes will benefit from busways, quality bus corridors and other priority measures to assist buses. We are also approving major new bus priority schemes in Southend (funding totalling £14 million), Derby (£22 million), Newcastle (three schemes totalling £23 million), and Birmingham (two schemes totalling £27 million).
Although not part of the local transport plan settlement, we are providing £240 million over the next three years for rural transport. Within this, £132 million will be available for local authority support for rural bus services. £60 million will be available through the Rural Bus Challenge to support innovative rural transport services. Through the Countryside Agency, we are providing up to £32 million funding for schemes developed by Rural Transport Partnerships to meet transport need in rural areas. We have also created a new parishes fund of £15 million over three years to fund small scale transport projects developed by parish councils.
§ Mr. SymsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much of the money allocated for national roads in the 10-year plan will be spent on(a) measures to tackle congestion, (b) safety measures, (c) road widening schemes, (d) bypass schemes and (e) junction improvements; what schemes are planned; and what progress has been made with their implementation. [141668]
Scheme Capital cost (£ million) State of progress Nottingham Express Transit 1180 Under construction Tyne and Wear Metro extension to Sunderland 100 Under construction Manchester Metrolink extensions: three lines (Oldham-Rochdale, Ashton under Lyne, Manchester Airport) 513 Construction to start early 2002 subject to outcome of applications for Transport and Works Act (TWA) powers Docklands Light Railway: extension to London City Airport 98 Construction to start late 2001 or early 2002, subject to the outcome of an application for TWA powers Midland Metro extensions: two lines (Birmingham city centre, Wednesbury-Brierley Hill) 2165 Provisional view announced that scheme passes economic appraisal—PTE to make application for TWA powers Leeds Supertram 2434 Under consideration—announcement to be made as soon as possible South Hampshire Rapid Transit System 2190 Under consideration—announcement to be made as soon as possible Bristol LRT 165 Under consideration—announcement to be made as soon as possible 1 Being taken forward under the Private Finance Initiative 2 No decisions taken yet on Government funding