I am aware of the aspiration for increased services on the Mid-Cheshire Line, and we will continue to discuss how additional services might be provided, with stakeholders including Transport for Greater Manchester and local MPs. Any increase in services would require additional infrastructure, including to address capacity constraints between Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport.

The Department has provided £44.1billion to Network Rail over the next Control Period (2024-29) for the operations and maintenance renewals budget. They will use this funding to monitor asset conditions and renewal opportunities including Weaver Viaduct. It is for Network Rail rather than the Department to make an assessment. The Department is supporting local partners on options to enhance the route including line speeds; these proposals are not funded as they are in early development and are subject to normal business case approvals.

The Department has provided £44.1billion to Network Rail over the next Control Period (2024-29) for the operations and maintenance renewals budget. They will use this funding to monitor asset conditions and renewal opportunities including Weaver Viaduct. It is for Network Rail rather than the Department to make an assessment. The Department is supporting local partners on options to enhance the route including line speeds; these proposals are not funded as they are in early development and are subject to normal business case approvals.

The Department has provided £44.1billion to Network Rail over the next Control Period (2024-29) for the operations and maintenance renewals budget. They will use this funding to monitor asset conditions and renewal opportunities including Weaver Viaduct. It is for Network Rail rather than the Department to make an assessment. The Department is supporting local partners on options to enhance the route including line speeds; these proposals are not funded as they are in early development and are subject to normal business case approvals.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) did not receive a Levelling Up Fund application from Winnington, Northwich for the first round of the Fund.

There will be further opportunities to access funding with the second round of the Levelling Up Fund opening in spring 2022. More information on the second round will be set out in due course.

The Environment Agency (EA) worked closely with Cheshire West and Chester Council in the development of the Northwich Flood Risk Management Scheme, as a key delivery partner on the project, which was completed in 2017. Following the flooding in October 2019, the EA also worked with the council and water company on contingency plans and had contingencies in place prior to Storm Christoph.

Storm Christoph was the largest event experienced in Cheshire since records began, resulting in significant foul and surface water flooding in Northwich Town Centre and to communities across the borough.

After the event, the EA initiated a collaborative working group with United Utilities and the council to establish a timeline of the flooding in the town centre and to help investigate the sources of flooding and support the Section 19 investigations. The focus has been on mitigation, with the result being an upscaled multi-agency contingency plan now in place for the winter ahead.

The council set up a Flood Risk Action Scrutiny group of councillors, with the primary focus being on Northwich town centre. EA staff attended these meetings on request from the council in response to the councillors' questions to cover issues relevant to the EA, including main river maintenance, warnings, community resilience and operations.

The Government acknowledges the significant impact that climate change is likely to have, and is indeed already having, on the frequency and severity of flooding. Tackling climate change and ensuring that communities across the UK are resilient to its impacts is a Government priority. That is why we have committed to invest £5.2 billion in flooding and coastal erosion over 2021-27.

A public consultation into the application for the proposed expansion of the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant near Northwich in Cheshire commenced on 4 November 2021 and will close on 2 December 2021. It is not possible to comment on the merits of a live planning application given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the decision-making process. The Secretary of State will take all relevant matters, including the waste hierarchy, into account when he makes his decision.

Following October 2019 flooding and Storm Christoph in January 2021, flood risk authorities across Cheshire including the Environment Agency (EA), Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWCC) and United Utilities committed to reducing flood risk in Northwich. The three organisations have been working together to address recommendations from the October 2019 Section 19 report published by CWCC to make the community in Northwich more resilient to future storm events.

The partnership prepared a joint emergency plan covering pre-flood and emergency response checks so that efforts are even more coordinated than for previous events. Pumping contingencies put in place following the October 2019 flooding are being enhanced to cope with a Storm Christoph sized event, and funding has been committed from all organisations in this partnership to develop these and other winter readiness measures. The partnership aims to look at longer term solutions to address flood risk in Northwich using a coordinated and strategic approach to take account of the future impacts of climate change and develop more sustainable solutions going forward.

The EA re-checked all of the outfalls to the river in the town centre to ensure non-return valves are fitted and are working as they should. The EA conducted pre-winter testing of the demountable flood barrier defences in Northwich on 7 November 2021 and confirmed they are functioning correctly and that the road closures and operational procedures all go smoothly when called upon.

The Environment Agency will regulate the incinerator installation through an Environmental Permit, under Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR). The permit will specify limits for emissions to the environment which are based on the Industrial Emission Directive 2010 and the Waste Incineration Best Available Technique conclusions. The waste types that any incinerator can process are specified by its EPR permit.

Since 2011, businesses that produce and handle waste must follow the Waste Hierarchy set out in Article 4 of the revised Waste Framework (Directive 2008/98/EC). The incinerator will be required to carry out checks on receipt of the waste to verify the description and ensure that it is an acceptable waste code for the plant to receive. The incinerator plant may extract energy from the waste to supply electricity to the National Grid.

The impact of the storm overflows that discharge to the River Weaver, including those in Northwich, was last assessed through modelling in 2013. This led to three storm overflow discharges being improved in United Utilities Water improvement programme for 2015-20, and a further storm overflow discharge is being improved during the current, 2020-25, programme.

In addition, monitors that record the duration of spills were installed on the majority of storm overflows in Northwich during 2015-20. Data from these monitors will inform United Utilities Water’s work to investigate further action that may be taken in the current price programme (2020-25).

The Government has been clear that the current level of sewage discharges from storm overflows is unacceptable. That is why earlier this year, the Government consulted on a draft of its new strategic policy statement to the industry’s independent regulator Ofwat, which set out that we expect it to incentivise water companies to take steps to “significantly reduce the frequency and volume of sewage discharges from storm overflows, so they operate infrequently”. This publication strongly influences investment decisions and is one of Government’s key tools in driving action from water companies. The Environment Act now contains a new duty directly on water companies to reduce progressively the adverse impacts of storm overflow discharges, making the expectation we have already set out in the draft policy statement unequivocal in law.

A public consultation into the Application for the proposed expansion of the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant near Northwich in Cheshire, commenced on 4 November 2021 and will close on 2 December 2021. It is not possible to comment on the merits of a live planning application given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the decision-making process but he will take all relevant matters into account when he makes his decision.

The Department provided £780,000 from the Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund to Cheshire West and Chester Council towards maintenance of the Winnington Swing Bridge. It is for the Council to consider and develop improvements to its highway network, including widening or replacing the single-lane bridge crossing the River Weaver at Winnington in Northwich.

The Department is taking steps to ensure that hospital treatment is accessible for people across the country, including the residents of Northwich, by providing funding and encouraging innovation. £1.7 million funding has been confirmed for the development of diagnostics services at Victoria Infirmary, Northwich, as part of the National Community Diagnostic Centre programme. This will include the introduction of a CT scanner and expansion of some other diagnostic services, including x-ray, ultrasound, some cardio-respiratory testing and phlebotomy. Work on the Victoria Infirmary estate is expected to start by the end of November 2021.

Following the recent decision not to relocate hospital facilities to the Weaver Square scheme in Northwich town centre, further discussions and plans for the wider development of the Victoria Infirmary site are ongoing. The department will continue to work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to support service provision by the National Health Service in the area.

Storm Christoph brought over a month's rain in 30 hours onto already wet catchments. This overwhelmed the capacity of the combined foul (waste water) and surface water sewer network in Northwich, owned by the local water company. The Environment Agency is leading a review of the drainage infrastructure, its capacities and possible overflow points before foul and surface water reaches the town centre. Following the review, the Environment Agency and partners will develop a series of options.

The responsibility for coordinating the management of surface water flooding falls to Lead Local Flood Authorities and they are expected to have well established contingency arrangements in place and to be able to respond and support their local communities. In managing these risks the Lead Local Flood Authority will work with other flood Risk Management Authorities. This includes the local Highways Authorities, who are responsible for highway and gully maintenance, and the water and sewerage companies who operate and maintain the sewer network.

Water and sewerage companies are under a duty (section 94, Water Industry Act 1991) to maintain their sewers to ensure that their area is effectually drained. Consideration of whether this duty have been breached, and any subsequent enforcement action, would be taken by Ofwat. Following the 2019 Price Review the water and sewerage companies have committed to invest more than £1 billion to protect the environment, homes, businesses and drinking water from flooding.

Under section 19 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 a Lead Local Flood Authority is required to investigate, to the extent that they consider it necessary or appropriate, flooding incidents, including whether Risk Management Authorities have exercised their functions. Once completed the report must be published and the relevant Risk Management Authorities notified.

Following the merger which led to the creation of Warrington and Vale Royal College, the college identified that the Hartford campus was not financially viable due in part to low student numbers. The college therefore assessed that it could provide education for its learners through fewer campuses, taking into account the other options available locally for learners. The college closed its Hartford Campus (near Northwich) and supported the Hartford learners with subsidised or free travel arrangements depending on their circumstances. The college’s nearest campus is five miles from Northwich.

The college continues to review its curriculum offer across Warrington and Vale Royal and is committed to developing the offer to meet local demand where possible. To date, however, the college has not identified evidence of sufficient demand to require an additional facility in the Northwich area. Cheshire West and Chester local authorities have also not raised concerns about the sufficiency of provision for 16-18 year old learners in the Northwich area following the closure of the Hartford campus.

According to the Department for Transport’s records, representatives from HS2 Ltd met with King Street Energy on 25 September 2013 and 22nd May 2014 to discuss interactions with the proposed HS2 route.

A further meeting between HS2 Ltd and King Street Energy is scheduled to take place later this year.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer visited a food bank in Northwich in his capacity as the Member of Parliament for Tatton.