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Category: Transportation

  • Robert Courts – 2021 Statement on Light Dues

    Robert Courts – 2021 Statement on Light Dues

    The statement made by Robert Courts, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, in the House of Commons on 11 February 2021.

    A strong and growing maritime industry is vital to the economy of the United Kingdom and it is critical that we treasure and protect this vital artery if we are to remain a world-leading maritime centre.

    The work of the General Lighthouse Authorities, which provide and maintain marine aids to navigation and respond to new wrecks and navigation dangers in some of the busiest waters in the world, is crucial to underpinning that vision whilst maintaining our vigorous safety record and continuously improving safety standards.

    Light dues, which are paid by the shipping industry such that the General Lighthouse Authority’s costs are met without the need to call on the UK Exchequer, have reduced by 40% in real terms since 2010.

    The unprecedented covid-19 pandemic has, however, added additional operational costs and resulted in a significant reduction in light dues income reflecting the major impact it has also had on the industry.

    To ensure the General Lighthouse Authorities have the funding they need to complete their vital maritime safety work I have, therefore, made the difficult decision to increase the light dues rate by one penny to 38.5p per net registered tonne for 2021-22.

    Light dues will continue to be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that the General Lighthouse Authorities are challenged to provide an effective and efficient service which offers value for money to light dues payers.

  • Rachel Maclean – 2021 Statement on the Spaceflight Regulator

    Rachel Maclean – 2021 Statement on the Spaceflight Regulator

    The statement made by Rachel Maclean, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, in the House of Commons on 10 February 2021.

    I am today publishing the consultation on the Government’s environmental objectives which the spaceflight regulator will take into account when exercising its spaceflight functions under the Space Industry Act 2018. We are also consulting on the associated guidance to the regulator on how the Government expect it to interpret these environmental objectives. Responses to the consultation are sought by Wednesday 24 March 2021.

    This Government are committed to growing the space sector in the UK and cementing our leading role in this sector by unlocking a new era in commercial spaceflight across the UK. Government and industry have set a target to grow the UK’s share of the global market to 10% by 2030. The UK space sector directly employs 41,900 people and contributes £5.7 billion to UK gross domestic product (GDP). The space sector will need another 30,000 people if it is to achieve its ambition to secure 10% of the world market by 2030. To support this, our spaceflight programme will enable commercial spaceports to be established in the UK that will facilitate a variety of spaceflight activities, including vertical and horizontal satellite launch and sub-orbital spaceflight. Growing the UK’s launch capability will help bring new jobs and economic benefits to communities and organisations right across the UK, as well as inspiring the next generation of space scientists and engineers. Harnessing the opportunities provided by commercial spaceflight will feed into our emerging national space strategy, the Government’s agenda to level up the UK, and global Britain.

    Access to space and the use of space-based technology also brings many benefits to the environment, allowing us to, for example, observe weather patterns, monitor climate change, manage natural resources, and monitor for harmful activities such as illegal deforestation, fishing and animal poaching. The UK space sector has an established world-class satellite manufacturing capability and technical expertise, which already makes a significant contribution to global efforts to monitor and understand the Earth’s environment. For example, the 2018 British-built satellite Aeolus is used to revolutionise the accuracy of weather forecasting, providing benefits to all citizens on Earth.

    The introduction of commercial spaceflight to the UK will have environmental implications at the global, national, regional and local level. The guidance recognise that to deliver the Government’s economic, social and environmental objectives, we need to balance mitigating the potentially negative environmental impacts of spaceflight activities with enhancing the strong contributions commercial spaceflight can make to both the economy and our local and global efforts to monitor the environment.

    The Space Industry Act 2018 requires applicants for a spaceport or launch operator licence to submit an assessment of environmental effects (the assessment) as part of their licence application. The objectives and guidance that Government propose setting explain how the spaceflight regulator will take into account the assessment when deciding licence applications and setting licence conditions.

    We have worked with environmental agencies, public bodies and Government Departments to ensure coherence with our national and international policies and obligations.

    Our intention is to have these objectives in place by the time the secondary legislation and guidance—on which we consulted on 29 July 2020—comes into force this summer and the regulator begins receiving and assessing applications.

  • Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Smart Motorways

    Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Smart Motorways

    The press release issued by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 12 February 2021.

    Labour urges Government to take action on smart motorways to prevent more deaths

    Labour has once again demanded the Government take action on smart motorways to prevent more fatalities, after it emerged Highways England could face charges over the death of a woman.

    During Transport Questions in the Commons last month Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was called on by Labour’s Jim McMahon to “commit, the minute this session finishes, to pick up the phone and to issue the instruction to re-instate the hard shoulder on smart motorways because god forbid we’ll be here again reviewing more deaths if action isn’t taken”.

    It followed a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, on a smart motorway in 2019.

    McMahon, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, has written to the Government to ask again for the hard shoulder on smart motorways to be reinstated while promised safety reviews are ongoing.

  • Jim McMahon – 2021 Letter on the Safety of Transport Workers

    Jim McMahon – 2021 Letter on the Safety of Transport Workers

    The letter send by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, to Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 2 February 2021.

    Dear Grant,

    I am sure you will join me in paying tribute to transport, distribution and logistics staff across the country. Without them our country would grind to a halt and we could not hope to beat Covid-19. As with all our frontline workers, they are the very best of us.

    Across the country people are shocked and saddened by increasing reports of transport and other key workers losing their lives to Covid-19. Our thoughts are with the families of these brave professionals. Our drivers are keeping the country going in extremely difficult circumstances, and they will be central to our economic recovery.

    You’ll know that this week the ONS published figures showing the death rate from Covid-19 by occupation. It revealed that taxi drivers (101 deaths per 100,000 males) and bus and coach drives (83 deaths per 100,000 males) had some of the highest death rates of any occupation.

    There is a mix of overlapping, and at times contradictory, scientific advice and guidance in circulation for essential workers. The job of Government should surely be to cut through that noise and give those that need it clear, unified and constant guidance and direction. The fact that different operators have diverging views on the best approach is confusing matters further.

    It’s clear that ahead of our frontline workers receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, we need a national operator’s forum with Government, transport operators and unions with driver and other workers’ representatives. This would help in understanding the frontline issues, varying approaches, and practical solutions to getting the Covid case rate and death rate down.

    There is a need for clearer guidance for all transport operators including those in the taxi industry that consider themselves a platform rather than employer. This should include, but not be limited to:

    Whether all public facing transport workers whether in the public or private sector should be issued with gloves, masks, and other PPE items as standard, what specification this PPE should be and, if there isn’t sufficient PPE, whether buses should still run;

    Whether physical barriers (ie. screens) should be in place for all taxis or other modes of transport to separate the driver from the passengers and if the government will provide specification on the most effective installation;

    How frequently vehicles should be cleaned and to what standard this cleaning should be, including routine deep cleaning;

    The need for drivers to have additional breaks, where social distancing can be applied, built into shifts;

    How social distancing can be effectively managed on within all modes of public transport, and how queuing and boarding can be managed to provide a safe environment for passengers and workers. This is especially important given the Prime Minister has said he is considering easing some restrictions as early as next month.

    Finally, to reiterate, my party is clear, as we have been since the beginning of this crisis, that we will work with the Government in any way possible to support efforts to tackle the virus. To that end, we are raising these issues in the spirit of constructive engagement.

    Yours Sincerely,

    Jim.

  • Grant Shapps – 2021 Comments on Road Upgrades

    Grant Shapps – 2021 Comments on Road Upgrades

    The comments made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 30 January 2021.

    I am delighted to announce this significant funding package, which will ensure millions of people can continue to travel easily and safely. It’s further proof of this government delivering on its promise to level up the country – putting transport at the heart of our efforts to build back better from COVID-19.

    The projects will help people access work and education, as well as ensuring vital connectivity for local businesses.

    While everyone will see the benefits of these schemes in time, for now, it’s important to remember to only travel for the permitted reasons while we continue to prioritise protecting public health and preventing the spread of the virus. Through staying at home, you can help stop the virus and save lives.

  • Grant Shapps – 2021 Comments on Support for Airports

    Grant Shapps – 2021 Comments on Support for Airports

    The comments made by Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 29 January 2021.

    A thriving aviation industry has been central to the success of this country and while we recognise the testing conditions airports are currently facing as a result of the pandemic, I believe that the sector will be ready to bounce back once restrictions are lifted.

    Today’s scheme is another step in the right direction, providing vital support for an industry that is raring to get back to business, once it is safe to do so.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2021 Statement on HS2 (West Midlands – Crewe)

    Andrew Stephenson – 2021 Statement on HS2 (West Midlands – Crewe)

    The statement made by Andrew Stephenson, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, in the House of Commons on 19 January 2021.

    Let me say at the outset that the majority of these amendments are clarifications, corrections and updated references. When a Bill has had such a lengthy passage through these Houses as this one, it is perhaps amazing that there are so few amendments that need to be made. Let me say also that the Government accept all the amendments made by the other place to this Bill.

    As you would expect, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will provide some comment on the more substantial amendments, but before I do so, I would like to thank the other place for its careful scrutiny of this Bill. In particular, I thank my noble Friend Baroness Vere of Norbiton for her very great skill and diligence in steering this Bill through the other place. I also wish to extend especial thanks to Lord Hope of Craighead and his Committee for their careful and considered approach to the petitions against the Bill in the other place and for the way they handled their processes during the global pandemic.

    Turning to the amendments, Lords amendment 2 introduces a requirement on the nominated undertaker to provide and publish annual reports on the impact of the construction of the High Speed 2 project on ancient woodland. This is a scheme-wide amendment: it applies not just to phase 2a of HS2, but to all phases, including those that the House has not yet considered. The requirement in this amendment to report is about ancient woodland, but I have also committed to wider environmental reporting on the impacts of HS2. I look forward to the first of these environmental reports being published, and I am absolutely committed to holding HS2 Ltd to account on environmental matters.

    Lords amendment 3 introduces a new requirement on the Government to undertake the consultation prior to 1 May 2021. This consultation is to be for the people of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, and it is to seek views on various types of impacts from the HS2 works. The Government opposed this amendment in the other place, but that was on the basis that it was deemed unnecessary. There has already been considerable consultation with the people of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. Nevertheless, I think that accepting this amendment is the right thing to do. As the Minister for HS2, I have been charged with resetting the relationship between the HS2 project and local communities. I have worked continuously with colleagues across the House who represent communities along the line of route. I am listening, and I will not stand in the way of the opportunity to listen more through further consultation. I want to reassure the House that I am taking action on what I hear, where it is needed. Further, I will do all I can to ensure that officials and those working on the project for HS2 Ltd put any consultation responses to the best possible use.

    I am acutely aware of the strength of feeling in the affected communities, and I am therefore mindful of the motivation and the sentiments of those who supported and voted for this amendment in the other place. As I have mentioned, extensive consultation has already been undertaken. It is crucial, though, that we remember that local communities are at the heart of this project. HS2 is a massive infrastructure project from which the whole nation will benefit, but there are those who will have to bear a burden for that to happen.

    I cannot move on without mentioning that there is a price tag of around £350,000 attached to the consultation. However, the costs of running a consultation are minor compared with the costs of delaying the Bill and of not listening to those who are directly affected by the impacts of these works. Let me therefore be very clear about consultation and engagement. The passing of this Bill does not mean the end of engagement with local communities. Indeed, it is only the beginning of a renewed effort to try to mitigate the impacts of the HS2 works on them. Therefore, while there has already been extensive consultation, I see no harm in there being even more.

    The last amendment to which I wish to draw the House’s attention is Lords amendment 5. It simply clarifies when a new road constructed under the powers in the Bill becomes specifically a public highway, and when a temporary highway ceases to be a public highway. This clarifies the position for local authorities and has been highlighted as necessary through learning the lessons from phase 1. The remainder of the Lords amendments—amendments 1 and 4, and 6 to 12—delete references to some specific phase 1 works that have been made obsolete by a Transport and Works Act 1992 order, delete references made obsolete by the repeal of some local Acts and update other references in relation to the Communications Act 2003.

    The Bill has already taken far longer to go through Parliament than was anticipated when the legislation was introduced in July 2017. I do not want to delay it further today. I want this section of the railway to be built so that we can hasten the benefits of HS2 to the north as soon as possible and, given all that I have said, I urge the House to agree to the Lords amendments.

  • Robert Courts – 2021 Comments on Isle of Wight Ferry Services

    Robert Courts – 2021 Comments on Isle of Wight Ferry Services

    The comments made by Robert Courts, the Maritime Minister, on 15 January 2021.

    We took immediate action at the start of the pandemic to protect these vital routes, keeping the services people depend on running between the Isle of Wight and the mainland, and protecting jobs.

    This additional funding will continue this essential support for local transport operators, ensuring people can access medical care as well as other crucial services.

  • Rachel Maclean – 2021 Comments on Self-Driving Cars

    Rachel Maclean – 2021 Comments on Self-Driving Cars

    The comments made by Rachel Maclean, the Transport Minister, on 13 January 2021.

    The investment in and development of CAVs could truly transform the way people and goods are transported, with innovation like this at the heart of our ambition to build back better. We’re on the cusp of a driving revolution. Not only could this tech unlock vast opportunities for the UK economy and jobs market, it could significantly improve the safety and efficiency of how we travel over the coming decades.

  • Andy Burnham – 2021 Comments on Manchester Railway Consultation

    Andy Burnham – 2021 Comments on Manchester Railway Consultation

    The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, on 14 January 2021.

    I welcome this consultation and the government’s focus on this issue. The bottleneck in central Manchester is a problem for the whole of the north – and solving these congestion issues will improve the reliability of rail services for passengers right across the north.

    As we look to build back better from the pandemic, we want to work with the government to deliver a reliable and dependable timetable, alongside the much-needed upgrades to our Victorian infrastructure.