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TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND

THE REGIONS

Home Zones

10. Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement about the role of home zones in creating safer communities. [28444]

Ms Keeble: Home zones can help to create safer communities by increasing the neighbourly use of the street, with adults talking and children playing. I am

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delighted that we were able to announce grants totalling £30 million towards 61 new home zone schemes in England earlier this month.

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the effect on the level of road accidents, broken down by type of (a) accident, (b) injury and (c) victim, of the operation of home zones. [30325]

Mr. Jamieson: Home zones are not road safety schemes as such, but if they are carefully designed, they can make a contribution to overall road safety objectives. My Department is currently monitoring nine pilot home zones in England and Wales. A review of accidents is one of the elements included in the study. Data on personal injury accidents are being collected from the local authorities and interview surveys of a sample of residents in each pilot home zone include questions about road accidents. 'After' data will be collected once the schemes are completed. We would expect on-going monitoring of accidents in any home zone to be carried out by the local authority.

Railtrack

11. Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what he estimates to be the costs to date of external consultants advising on the administration of Railtrack and its implications for the railway and Ernst and Young. [28445]

Mr. Spellar: Ernst and Young, as Special Railway Administrators, are officers of the High Court and, as such, are not employed as external consultants by my Department. Consequently, fees are a matter for the creditors of Railtrack plc. From 7 October to the end of December 2001, the estimated cost of external consultants working for my Department on the administration of Railtrack and on the process of exiting administration is in the region of £3.1 million.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether his officials are working as part of the team developing a company limited by guarantee to bid for Railtrack. [30236]

Mr. Jamieson: No.

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether all bidders for Railtrack plc, including the company limited by guarantee, will be subject to the same submission process. [30232]

Mr. Jamieson: This is a matter for the administrator.

Local Bus Services

12. Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on Government investment in local bus services. [28446]

Mr. Byers: Since introducing the new system of local transport plans, in 1999, we have accepted or provisionally accepted for funding 30 bus-based major local transport schemes each with a minimum gross cost of £5 million. We are also making £198 million available to local authorities to support bus services in rural areas, as well as £46 million under the urban bus challenge

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scheme. The bus industry is also investing heavily, having spent some £977 million on new buses over the last three years.

Transport Review

13. Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the impact his 10-year transport review will have on carbon dioxide levels. [28447]

Mr. Spellar: The 10-Year Transport Plan, published in July 2000, sets out the impact of the plan on carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) emissions. The policies and measures contained in the plan are forecast to reduce CO ₂ emissions by 1.6 million tonnes of carbon by 2010.

Council Tax

14. Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the latest estimate is of the percentage increase in council tax planned for 2002–03. [28448]

Mr. Raynsford: Decisions on council tax are for local authorities to take, after consulting with their local electorate and taxpayers.

Only when councils have set their own level of council tax in March will the full national picture about actual levels of council tax be known.

17. Dr. Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will introduce council tax bands (a) lower than the current minimum and (b) higher than the current maximum. [28452]

Mr. Raynsford: In the Local Government White Paper, we said that we intend to start work on a revaluation of all dwellings in 2005. Ahead of revaluation, we will listen to the views of taxpayers and local government about council tax bands.

We shall introduce legislation to make clear that additional council tax bands can be created without new primary legislation.

Railway Carriages

15. Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what measures he is taking to improve the quality of railway carriages. [28449]

Mr. Spellar: Since privatisation over 3,200 new vehicles, one third of the current fleet, have been ordered worth approximately £3 billion. During its re-franchising programme the Strategic Rail Authority will seek additional commitments from bidders either for additional new rolling stock or for refurbishment of existing stock.

Travellers

16. Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if the Bellwin scheme to reimburse councils for emergency expenditure applies to the cost of cleaning sites used by travellers following unauthorised occupation of public parks and open spaces. [28451]

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Mr. Raynsford: A Bellwin scheme of emergency financial assistance may be activated to help a local authority with uninsurable clear-up costs following a disaster or emergency that involves destruction of, or danger to, life or property. My Department gives full consideration to any proposals for the activation of a scheme. To date there have been no claims for costs of cleaning sites used by travellers following unauthorised occupation of public parks and open spaces.

Housebuilding Targets

18. Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what representations he has received from local authorities regarding regional and national housebuilding targets. [28454]

37. Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent representations he has received from local authorities concerning regional and national housebuilding targets. [28474]

Ms Keeble: We have received representations from local authorities on a number of matters relating to planning for housing. But this Government do not set national or regional housebuilding targets. We have a national land recycling target and each region proposes its own recycling target to be established through regional planning guidance. Regional planning guidance also establishes annual rates of housing provision to be kept under regular review.

Planning Green Paper

19. Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what representations he has received concerning the Planning Green Paper from community organisations. [28455]

Ms Keeble: The consultation period runs until 18 March. The Department has so far received less than 50 representations and no analysis of the responses has yet been undertaken.

Roads (Speeding)

20. Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what measures he is taking to reduce accidents due to speeding on roads. [28456]

Mr. Spellar: The measures being taken by the Government to reduce speed related road accidents are contained in the Road Safety Strategy, "Tomorrows Roads Safer for Everyone"—published in March 2000.

Rural Housing

21. Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps he is taking to tackle shortages of affordable housing in rural areas. [28457]

Ms Keeble: As we said in the Rural White Paper, we expect to deliver around 9,000 new affordable homes annually in rural areas by 2003–04. This is possible in

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large partly because of a near doubling in the Housing Corporation's budget from 2000–01 levels to over £1.2 billion by 2003–04.

We are consulting on proposals to replace the present system of negotiated planning obligations with a tariff- based approach. We expect this to secure more affordable housing generally, including in rural areas.

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