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Home Zone Challenge

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which local authorities applied for funding under the Home Zone Challenge scheme; and how much each authority received. [171974]

Mr. McNulty: A table has been placed in the Libraries of the House which lists the 110 authorities that applied for funding and their respective maximum allocations.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures his Department have put in place to ensure that money given under the Home Zone scheme (a) achieves value for money and (b) meets the original conditions of the bid. [171975]

Mr. McNulty: The payment of grant through the Home Zones Challenge is subject to terms and conditions which form an agreement for funding the work programme submitted by the authority in its original bid. The terms and conditions set out the requirements relating to value for money and changes, if significant, to the work programme. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

The Secretary of State has appointed a consultant to assist with the management of the Home Zones Challenge, to monitor progress of the schemes and to disseminate good practice. Local authorities are required to provide quarterly finance and progress reports and the schemes are reviewed regularly at regional meetings. Authorities are visited on occasion by officials from the Department and/or the management consultant to review individual schemes.

Light Rail

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to encourage (a) local authorities, (b) private sector bodies and (c) organisations and institutions involved in light rail to share best practice. [171946]

Mr. McNulty: The departmental officials meet regularly with scheme promoters and hold seminars from time to time to disseminate best practice and encourage dialogue between promoters. The Department has also part funded Leeds University's Institute of Transport Studies 'Consult Database' a web-based tool designed to disseminate best practice in local transport planning.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) which light rail systems that share road space with road traffic have priority over road traffic; [171949]

(2) what assessment his Department has made of the percentage of proposed new light rail systems that will run across surfaces shared with road vehicles; and if he will make a statement; [171950]

(3) what percentage of current light rail networks run along surfaces shared with road vehicles. [171951]

 
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Mr. McNulty: It is for the promoters to assess the appropriate level of sharing and traffic priority, in the light of local circumstances. All the current and proposed light rail systems have sections of street-running and some degree of priority at junctions.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what estimate his Department has made of the amount of heavy rail track still in use that would be suitable for shared use by light rail systems; and if he will make a statement; [171952]

(2) sport how many kilometres of track are shared by light rail and heavy rail vehicles. [171953]

Mr. McNulty: There are currently about 13 kilometres of track that is shared by light rail and heavy rail vehicles. The Department has made no assessment of the amount of the existing heavy rail network that could be shared with light rail services. However, The Passenger Transport Executive Group on Light Rail is currently looking at the feasibility of more sharing of track between light and heavy rail services and will be presenting their finding to the Department in due course.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what common safety and operational regulations are applied to heavy and light rail projects concerning dangers to pedestrians and motorists. [171955]

Mr. McNulty: A number of regulatory provisions apply to both heavy and light rail systems. These include: the Level Crossings Act 1983; the Railways and Other Transport Systems (Approval of Works, Plant and Equipment) Regulations 1994; the Railways (Safety Critical Work) Regulations 1994, and the Railway Safety (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1997. All are relevant statutory provisions under The Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974.

The measures necessary to meet these provisions reflect scheme specific risk, and so will vary depending on the nature and characteristics of the rail system concerned.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which local authorities have indicated to his Department that they are actively considering building tram and light rail systems. [171961]

Mr. McNulty: Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire county councils, Hampshire county council and Portsmouth city council, Blackpool borough council, along with all the Passenger Transport Executives have indicated to the Department that they are actively considering light rail proposals.

Local Transport Schemes

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the 19 major local transport schemes referred to on page 19 of his Department's Annual Report 2003; and how much funding each received. [171937]

Mr. McNulty: There is no reference to major local transport schemes on page 19 of the Department for Transport's 2003 Annual Report. The new major
 
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schemes approved in the 2002 annual local transport settlement, along with their funding allocations, are listed in the table as follows:

	£ million
Norwich Interchange	9.8
A43 Corby Link Road	12.7
Nottingham City Centre Scheme	11.8
North Middlesborough Accessibility Improvements	10.9
Sunderland Central Route	9.1
North Manchester Business Park	20.2
Merseytram Line 1	170
Wigan Inner Relief Route	19.5
Ashton Northern Bypass Stage 2	7.7
A5 8 Blackbrook Diversion	7.9
A57 Cadishead Way	19.9
Warrington Bus Interchange	6.4
A228 Leybourne and West Mailing Corridor       Improvement	19.9
Ryde and East Wight Gateway	5.6
A24 Ashington to Southwater	19
A24 Horsham—Capel Improvement	38.6
Mereoak Roundabout	6.3
Walsall Town Centre Transport Package	11.3
Reighton Bypass	6.6

Motorway Bridges

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many unused and obsolete bridges are in place over motorways in England and Wales; if he will list their locations and who is responsible for each of them; and how many are scheduled for (a) repair and (b) removal or demolition. [172044]

Dr. Howells: There are 11 unused bridges in place over motorways in England for which the Highways Agency is responsible. Bridges over motorways in Wales are the responsibility of the National Assembly for Wales. The location of the bridges in England is shown in the following table.

Location	Status
M1 Junction 26 and Junction 27 (midway) near Greasley	Scheduled for removal
M23 near Hooley (2 bridges)	Possible removal pending the outcome of the preferred scheme for the M23/A23 Hooley junction improvement
M1 Dry Culvert Crossing near Shepshed	—
M40 Great Pinley accommodation bridge near Warwick	—
Ropple Rail Overbridge on the M50	—
A46 Budbrooke Lodge Farm near Warwick	—
M5 near Puriton, Somerset	—
M25 Junction 5 Sevenoaks	—
M1 near Luton	—
M45 south of Rugby	—
M1 Junction 26 and Junction 27 (midway) near Greasley	—

 
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Network Rail

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether (a) he, (b) other Ministers in his Department and (c) departmental officials have met representatives of Network Rail to discuss the industrial dispute with the RMT Union. [171223]

Mr. McNulty: My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Transport met the Chairman, Chief Executive and other senior Network Rail officers on 27 April and this issue was one of the items discussed. Departmental officials have also had contacts with Network Rail on this issue.

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