Contents
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
Regional News
Industry News
Parliamentary News
Government News
House of Commons Questions
House of Lords Questions – Oral question
Media News
SASIG 2014/15 Meeting Dates
6 March 2014
27 June 2014
24 October 2014
13 March 2015
Meetings are held at Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P 3HZ, location map.
Regional News
28 Oct 2013 – A seminar organised jointly by Campaign to Protect Rural England Surrey, Campaign to Protect Rural England Sussex and Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign examined the arguments for and against a new runway at Gatwick. One hundred and fifty representatives of county, borough and district, and parish councils, together with, planning officers and other experts, plus four local MPs and one Member of the European Parliament, attended the conference at the Stanhill Court Hotel. There was also support from national representatives from WWF, the Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust.
Industry News
28 Oct 2013 – International Air Transport Association monthly data show global air freight is rising very slowly, with falls in some months.
29 Oct 2013 – Airlines are continuing to make money from the sale of ancillary services, according to research. The world’s carriers are predicted to receive total revenue of €42.6 billion in add-on services such as baggage fees, onboard food and drink and early boarding benefits, according to the report from consultant Idea Works Company and online car rental specialist Car Trawler. This represents an 18 per cent increase in revenue from 2012’s figure of €36.1 billion.
30 Oct 2013 – London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4 is to have a new bigger capacity baggage handling system installed.
31 Oct 2013 – A complaint by EasyJet against rival airline Lufthansa has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.
31 Oct 2013 – The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have announced that the agency will be relaxing guidelines on passenger electronic device use during aircraft takeoff and landing, allowing the use of tablets, e-readers, DVD players and video game consoles. Phone calls and texting remain banned. The FAA’s announcement follows a report made to the agency by a 28-member advisory committee in September. The group concluded that most commercial airplanes can tolerate radio interference signals from portable electronic devices. Devices will still have to be in ‘airplane mode’ or with their cellular connection disabled. WiFi will be allowed as long as the flight has an installed system and allows its use.
Parliamentary News
28 Oct 2013 – Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport gives evidence to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee on Winter resilience (video footage). Up to date information relating to the Select Committee’s enquiry (including video recordings of oral evidence sessions and how to submit evidence) can be found here, a summary of Mr. Goodwill’s evidence is given below.
Opening the session, Labour Committee Chair Louise Ellman invited Mr Goodwill to make an opening statement. Responding, the Minister stated that he believed the UK was better prepared to cope with the forthcoming winter that it had been in 2009/10. He praised the response to the day’s heavy weather as ‘impressive’ and assured the Committee that the Department for Transport (DfT) would conduct a thorough review of the response.
Contingency planning on the rail network
The Chair asked what the Met Office had told the Government to expect of weather that winter. Responding, Mr Goodwill said that the job of the DfT was to ‘plan for the worst and hope for the best’. The Chair asked if transport operators should put emergency timetables in place in response to severe weather. Network Rail had made the ‘right decision’ to cancel some services, Mr Goodwill said, adding that 200 collapsed trees had been encountered on railway lines following the storm. He said that passengers had been prevented from being stranded on rail lines. Pressed by the Committee, Mr Goodwill explained that the decision had been taken the previous night on a conference call with Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin. Questioned by Conservative MP Karen Lumley on the state of rail services, the Minister said that Network Rail expected most commuter services to be restored by tomorrow. Later, asked by the Chair to measure the response of the Government and authorities, Mr Goodwill said that the degree of expected disruption to the road network had not been as high as expected. He did not believe that the information given to the traveling public was ‘ever good enough’.
East Coast Main Line
Conservative MP Karl McCartney asked why no coaches had been provided for East Coast Main Line passengers stranded at Peterborough that morning. Responding, Mr Goodwill said that the overhead power lines at Peterborough had presented issues in the past. He did not believe that it was acceptable for East Coat Trains to ‘decamp people’ and not lay on rail replacement buses.
Impact of aviation
Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders asked if Heathrow Airport should share fights out to Gatwick and Stansted Airport when faced with severe weather. Responding, Mr Goodwill said that any such decision was an operational matter for Heathrow. ‘Heathrow is running at capacity… and that is a fact of life’, he added. Pressed by Mr Sanders, the Minister believed that the Airport would likely ‘resist’ any attempts to reduce their take-offs and landings. He also suggested that the Davies Commission might examine the issues. Later, questioned by the Chair, Mr Goodwill explained that there was ‘no excuse’ as to why airlines should not be liable for compensation claims because of passenger delays from poor weather. The Chair asked about provisions for clearing runways covered by snow. Referring to a situation earlier in the year, the Minister explained that disruptions had occurred on Friday 18 January following a decision to close Heathrow’s runways. Mr Goodwill felt that the decision had been taken owing to conflicting weather reports used by the Airport’s different stakeholders. He claimed that many passengers had not chosen to take up complimentary hotel accommodation, choosing instead to remain in the terminal building. It was their images that had been broadcast in the media at the time. Mr Goodwill subsequently described Heathrow as ‘the biggest challenge’ in terms of winter resilience.
Role of Government departments
Labour MP Jim Dobbin asked if Government departments played a prominent role in ensuring commuters knew about travel disruption. Responding, Mr Goodwill explained that the DfT issued general advice on conditions, adding that specific travel advice would be available from operators. He commended the role of motoring organisations such as the AA and the RAC in raising traveler awareness.
Contingencies
The Chair asked if there had been any suggested changes to the storage of salt for resilience purposes. Mr Goodwill explained that the plan was to work with local authorities and the Highways Agency to ensure there were sufficient contingencies were built in. The Minister highlighted that the number of gritters in reserve had been increased by half since 2009/10.
Working with local authorities and other public bodies
Responding to a question from the Chair on the impact of local authority spending cuts, Mr Goodwill explained that they were maintaining sufficient salts stocks and resources. Questioned on his Department’s work with Network Rail, the Minister said that £100m had been provided to ensure winter resilience was in place across the network. He added that both the DfT and the Highways Agency made increasing use of social media to communicate travel disruption to the public.
Cross-modal transport information
The Chair asked who should take a lead on improving cross-modal transport information. Citing the example of York Station and coach connections to Whitby, Mr Goodwill believed that the operators should be ‘keen to embrace’ improvements.
30 Oct 2013 – The House of Commons Transport Select Committee is calling for evidence on local decision making on transport expenditure. The Committee has asked to receive written evidence on the following points:
- What is the rationale for the Government’s proposals to devolve to a local level decision-making on transport expenditure? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Government’s approach? Are there better models?
- Do local bodies (including local authorities, local enterprise partnerships, passenger transport executives, integrated transport authorities and local transport boards) have the capacity to assess, prioritise and deliver local transport schemes? What would the optimum delivery body look like?
- What is the best way of dealing with major transport schemes that cross local authority boundaries or have wider regional impact?
- How effectively do local bodies work with each other and with Government departments and national transport agencies?
- Do the current funding streams for major local transport schemes meet the needs of local authorities? How do current funding streams compare with previous arrangements?
- What impact will the devolution in 2015 of funding to Local Transport Bodies and the introduction of the Single Local Growth Fund have?
- How can local authorities attract greater investment from the private sector for the delivery and maintenance of local transport infrastructure? What scope is there for the use of alternative funding streams?
Deadline for written submissions is Friday 13 December.
31 Oct 2013 – The Energy and Climate Change Committee will take evidence on The Economics of Climate Change at 9.30 am on Tuesday 5 November 2013. The Committee will hear from: Professor Lord Stern, President of the British Academy and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, as well as IG Patel Professor of Economics & Government at the London School of Economics. The session will explore a range of issues, such as:
- The economics of climate change
- The current government approach to addressing climate change
- International climate change action
More information can be found on the Committee website here.
Government News
28 Oct 2013 – The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has appointed Tim Johnson as its new Head of Policy. He will lead a new team formed by drawing together existing functions in the CAA, to strengthen policy development, improve co-ordination (particularly in Europe and internationally), and facilitate better sharing of skills across the organisation. Mr. Johnson joins the CAA after a career in both public and private sectors, most recently having spent six years working for NATS, the air traffic control company, where he currently heads up its economic regulation team. His earlier career was in the civil service and included roles in HM Treasury and the Shareholder Executive. He will join the CAA in January 2014.
28 Oct 2013 – The Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, has agreed to begin talks with China to improve air links in early 2014.
28 Oct 2013 – Five local authorities are to receive funding to cut pollution from buses, improving air quality in towns and cities across England. Transport Minister Baroness Kramer announced additional support under the Clean Bus Technology Fund to cut emissions from 92 local buses.
29 Oct 2013 – The Department for Transport published ‘The Strategic Case for HS2’, ‘Investing in Britain’s Future: why we need HS2’ and ‘Rail Alternatives to HS2’. Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McGloughlin published a ministerial statement relating to HS2. Commenting on the publications, the Secretary of State said ‘I regard the publication of these documents as an important step in my preparations for laying the Hybrid Bill before Parliament later this year and I consider this to be an opportune time to explain the benefits of HS2 clearly and comprehensively.’ He added, ‘I respect the fact that not everyone will agree and that some people are concerned about the impact on the places they live. […] I also respect what Sir John Armitt said in his recent report for Labour on infrastructure [however] big projects need broad political consensus as well as ‘resolution from political leaders.’
29 Oct 2013 – Britain cannot meet its future transport needs without HS2, according to new evidence published by the government. Even with over £50 billion of planned transport investment over the next 6 years the country’s railways will be overwhelmed. The strategic case for HS2 sets out in detail the need for a new railway line to provide the vitally needed extra capacity. Central to the case is new data that reveals the true extent of the crisis facing the UK rail network and the impact alternatives to building HS2 would have. The document outlines how demand for rail travel will continue to grow. By 2026 it is forecast that 40 per cent of passengers will be standing on commuter services into London during the evening peak hours. While research by Network Rail and Atkins shows that the alternative to HS2 would result in up to 14 years of weekend closures on existing lines and deliver only a fraction of the additional capacity.
31 Oct 2013 – The High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill was debated at the Report Stage in the Commons. During the day’s debate, three cross-party amendments were passed. These dealt with: the cost of integrating HS2 into the existing transport network, possible outcomes from over or underspend of the budget and vocational qualifications gained by individuals involved in preparatory work or construction. Conservative backbenchers moved two amendments, one to explicitly express the intention to extend the line to Scotland and the other to set an overall cap on spending. These were both rejected.
House of Commons Questions
Berger, Effects of air pollution
28 Oct 2013
Luciana Berger, Shadow Climate Change Minister (Labour/Co-operative Party, Liverpool Wavertree): To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of air pollution on public health; and what steps the Government is taking to tackle this problem.
Jane Ellison, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health (Conservative, Battersea): The main health impact of air pollution is the effect on mortality of long-term exposure to fine particulate matter. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution estimated (1), on the basis of 2008 data, that fine particulate matter (measured as PM2.5) had an effect on the mortality of the United Kingdom population equivalent to 29,000 deaths in 2008. The Public Health Outcomes Framework (2) has an indicator of deaths attributable to long-term exposure to air pollution (measured as PM2.5) and this contains an estimate of the fraction of mortality attributable to fine particulate matter in 2010 for all upper tier and unitary authorities in England. With regard to what steps the Government is taking to tackle this problem I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon , Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister (Conservative, Newbury)), on 3 June 2013, Official Report, column 784W, to the hon. Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown, Opposition Whip (Labour, West Ham)).
1. http://comeap.org.uk/documents/reports
House of Lords Questions – Oral question
Faulkner – Passenger Demand (Rail)
31 Oct 2013
Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour peer): To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates they have made of the cost of upgrading the West Coast and East Coast main railway lines to bring them up to the standard likely to be required to meet passenger demand after 2020.
Baroness Kramer, (Liberal Democrat, Minister of State, Department for Transport): My Lords, the only viable option for solving problems on the west and east coast main lines beyond 2020 is HS2. The Government have looked at alternatives, including upgrading these routes. The lead alternative looks to enhance all three existing north-south main lines at a cost of £19.2 billion, £2.5 billion of which is required for the west coast and £11.5 billion for the east coast. None of these alternatives delivers the scale of benefits of HS2.
Lord Faulkner of Worcester: My Lords, I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box for her first Oral Question and warmly congratulate her on that Answer. With the number of people travelling by train now higher than at any time in the history of Britain’s railways, with growth over the past five years running at 5%, does she agree with Network Rail’s assessment that a make-do-and-mend approach to the main lines built by our Victorian ancestors would require 2,770 weekend closures, endless bus substitutions and increased journey times over 14 years, and do little for economic growth for our great cities outside London?
Baroness Kramer: My Lords, I could not agree more with the noble Lord. I would also say that the benefit-cost ratio for HS2 assumes a growth in rail demand of 2.2% while, as he has said, the actual growth in demand over recent years has been much closer to 5%, which would significantly increase that cost-benefit case. Capacity is the issue; the alternatives just do not offer the scale. For example, HS2 will deliver over 13,000 peak hour seats to west coast destinations compared to just 3,000 for the alternatives.
Lord Berkeley (Labour peer): My Lords, how many years of closure at weekends or at other times of the three main lines going north from London would be required to meet the demand of passengers and freight—and freight will double in the next 20 years—if that was to be a substitute for HS2? I declare an interest as chairman of the Rail Freight Group.
Baroness Kramer: My Lords, we would be looking at something like 14 years of weekend closures, which is extraordinary disruption. That assumes a very aggressive construction schedule of two simultaneous schemes on each route at any one time. If it was done in a more usual pattern, there would be even more weekends of closures. The question of freight is a serious one, because the alternatives would not add a single additional freight path on the southern section of the west coast main line, whereas, by transferring long distance passengers to HS2, there is a possibility of up to 20 additional freight paths on that same congested set of lines.
Lord Palmer (Crossbench peer): Could the Minister explain why the Government are so keen to denationalise the east coast main line when it is performing so well and contributing so generously to Treasury funds? I declare an interest as a frequent traveller on that line.
Baroness Kramer: My Lords, I shall reply only briefly, because this wanders away from the topic of the Question. The important issue is that we need significant investment in the east coast main line. The Government and DOR have done an excellent job of stabilising the service; we look to the future and to investment and growth. That is why the Government are making the decision to move ahead with the franchise, to provide a far better and improved service in future.
Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat peer): Did the Minister see the report in the Evening Standard yesterday that the noble Lord, Lord Sugar, has spent £24 million in acquiring a property the value of which is expected to rise when Crossrail is opened? The HS2 route will see significant rises in value but these are neither credited to the scheme in the economic assessment nor captured by the public purse. Is any work going on to secure some credit for such effects of these large infrastructure schemes?
Baroness Kramer: My noble friend Lord Bradshaw is right that the economic case is looked at within fairly tightly defined contours. There are many additional benefits. My noble friend Lord Deighton is working on making sure that the growth potential of HS2 is absolutely maximised. My noble friend made the point that there is an uplift in value. My goodness, we have seen that around places like King’s Cross/St Pancras, at the stations on the Jubilee line and in the benefits to Canary Wharf. That economic uplift has not traditionally been captured to help fund infrastructure. We will look closely at ways to do that in future.
Lord Snape (Labour peer):My Lords, does the Minister accept that the problems on the east coast main line are due to the shoddy way in which electrification took place in the 1980s, a fact that Ministers at the time boasted about? Electrification masts were more widely spaced, and the catenary of lightweight construction means that it blows down in anything above a summer breeze. These matters have nothing to do with the train-operating companies. The Minister’s welcome response about the future of HS2 today ought to be answered by those in my own party, some of whom appear to be more interested in playing politics than worrying about the future of our railway industry.
Baroness Kramer: Again, I am afraid that the noble Lord, Lord Snape, wanders away from the subject of today, but it is crucial to understand that when HS2 goes forward, it does not mean we are stopping other transport investment on crucial lines. As he will know, in the next Parliament £73 billion has been committed to transport improvements and only £17 billion of that goes on HS2. Definite improvements are scheduled for the east coast. Since that is away from the topic, I will not pursue those today—and I cannot find them under my tab. I will write to the noble Lord in detail.
Lord Cormack (Conservative peer): Is my noble friend aware that many do not share her enthusiasm for HS2, and believe that the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Mandelson, deserve real consideration and that the environmental cost that this nation will have to pay is really disproportionate to the benefits that might be achieved? We hope very much, even at this late stage, that common sense will prevail.
Baroness Kramer: My Lords, the Government—and I—regard HS2 as a vital project. As I said, the underlying rationale is capacity. We are out of capacity on critical lines going north out of London and those are essential for the economy. We must also continue to build the economy of the north of England rather than just constantly focus on the south. I believe that the project has found a good balance between the environmental challenges—of course, they are many—and value for money. This is an absolutely essential project and most of those in this House who specialise and focus on transport and rail will confirm the view I have just expressed.
Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour peer) : My Lords, why is the public operation of the east coast main line not allowed to continue or bid for the franchise when bids from the German and French state railways appear to be welcome?
Baroness Kramer: My Lords, I am delighted to find that HS2 has now become so uncontroversial that questions on other topics enter into this brief exchange. I just repeat what I said on the future of the east coast main line. It has gone through a period of being stabilised by the Government. That has meant that new investment has not come in on the scale that passengers on that route require. We wish to see a strong future for the east coast main line.
Media News
28 Oct 2013 – Dubai’s newest airport, Al Maktoum International Airport, has welcomed its first commercial passenger plane. The airport opened in June 2010 with a single runway, but was only used by cargo planes until yesterday. So far just six airlines – Condor, Gulf Air, Jazeera Airways, Qatar Airways, Wizz Air and Wizz Air Ukraine – have signed up to use the airport, but it is hoped that it will one day handle up to 160 million passengers a year. Around two-thirds of those will be in transit.
29 Oct 2013 – Baroness Susan Kramer announced a consultation for proposals to set up the Highways Agency as a new government-owned company responsible for operating, managing and improving the strategic road network. The consultation closes on Friday 20 December 2013 with outcomes reported by spring 2014.
31 Oct 2013 – The inaugural Aerotropolis Europe, Middle East and Africa Conference and Exhibition is to take place in Manchester, England in July 2014, it has been announced at the Aerotropolis Americas Conference and Exhibition. The event will be hosted by Manchester in partnership with Airport City Manchester as part of the Festival for Business 2014 from 8 – 10 July next year. Full coverage of this years Aerotropolis Americas Conference being held in Texas can be found here.
1 Nov 2013 – Baroness Susan Kramer announced the publication of a report looking at how to increase the benefits that Scotland gains from the High Speed 2 rail line (HS2). The report suggests that HS2 could also bring further benefits to more towns and cities in northern England.
1 Nov 2013 – Eight of the largest environmental organisations in the UK have written an open letter to Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of the Airports Commission, to express their concern about the Commission’s ‘emerging thinking’ that more runway capacity is needed for the south east of England, as expressed in Sir Howard’s speech on 7 October. The organisations include: Greenpeace, WWF-UK, RSPB, WoodlandTrust, Aviation Environment Federation.
SASIG Regional&IndustryNews Bulletin 26 Oct – 1 Nov
SASIG ParliamentaryNews Bulletin 26 Oct – 1 Nov
The Parliamentary information in this Bulletin is sourced from De Havilland Information Services plc.