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Transport and the Economy

There is a reason why so many hon. Members and so many of my hon. Friends are queuing up to speak in this debate. We all recognise the hugely important role and value of a good transport system in and to our constituencies and therefore the nation as a whole. Indeed, a good public transport system and a good transport system are the arteries of economic life. I am no exception to those hon. Members on both sides of the House who so often come together to support such projects, putting aside our party political differences. I do not want to repeat everything that has been said by the hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth), but I agree with him very much and I hope that the Government will take on board the arguments that will, without doubt, be made by many Members on behalf of all of us on that route up to Sheffield from London —the midland main line route. We desperately want it to be improved and hope that we will see electrification, which will benefit both our region and our area. It has been estimated that the wider economic area would benefit by £400 million if that line were improved. I am grateful to the Government for saying that after many years—more than I would care to remember, because it would give a real indication of my age, but people have been asking for this for decades—the A453, the major route from the M1 into Nottingham city, will be improved. I am so grateful that the Government have finally given the go ahead and hope that they will now give us all a date for when that road will be widened. Anybody who has travelled along the A46 will know and appreciate what a first-class modern road can deliver, benefiting not only the motorists but our quality of life and economic growth. I do not want to speak for too long and I do not wish to be rude, but I will not take any interventions, because I know that many Members want to speak. Let me add one point. It is imperative that when we improve our transport system we work as much as we possibly can with the people who will benefit from it, or we will find that their lives are hugely disrupted. The tram route is an example of that. The Minister will be familiar with the debate in my part of Nottinghamshire about the tram route, which will now come out of Nottingham and up to Toton in my constituency. The proposal has been very controversial because of the route. Broxtowe Conservatives were always opposed to it, and I am proud to have been part of their campaign. I know that the arguments have been well rehearsed, but now that work has started, we are seeing why there was such opposition. It has led to considerable disruption—and there will be more—to the lives of ordinary people through the taking of gardens, the demolition of homes and so on. In particular, at the terminus of that route, very vulnerable green-belt land has been made into a housing development area. When we consider such schemes, we must look at the broader issues and the fact that there might sometimes be detrimental and harmful consequences for people who live on the route or at the end of it, and who want to protect their green belt. We have seen that in Toton, where an application has been made for some 800 homes on green-belt land, largely based on the fact that there will be a terminus at Toton. Unfortunately, we must always be careful when we consider how to finance some routes and extensions to public transport. Let me take the tram as an example, although I will not rehearse the many arguments about such agreements and whether there is a bias towards tram routes over bus routes. Nottingham city council—the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) might address this in her speech—has introduced a workplace parking levy to finance the two new routes. In my view, that will have a profoundly bad effect on the very businesses that would otherwise benefit from such an extension of good public transport. It is all about getting that balance right, because in Nottingham ordinary workers at many businesses, especially large ones such as Boots in my constituency, will have to pay up to £300 a year so that they can travel to work when they have no alternative but to use their car because of the inadequacies of the public transport system. Perhaps ironically, many of those workers will not be able to use the very tram that their parking levy will fund. That does not seem right or fair. It is a question of balance. When we take all matters into consideration, bearing in mind that better public transport provides a wonderful opportunity to fuel our economies, we do things in the right way. It is right and proper that the Government are determined to invest in our infrastructure, as that is without doubt the best way to make progress in our economy.