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Heathrow (Sustainable Development)

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment has been made of the air pollution impact of the introduction of mixed mode at Heathrow in advance of the publication of the report from the project for the sustainable development of Heathrow. [46297]

Ms Buck: Work is still in hand to develop proposals for the possible introduction of mixed mode at Heathrow, prior to consultation. Air quality impacts will be assessed drawing on the outcome of the work of the air quality technical panels, whose report is currently being finalised.

Highway Code

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the consultation on the next update of the Highway Code will begin. [45603]

Dr. Ladyman: The consultation on the next update of the Highway Code will begin in the next few weeks.
 
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Housing Development (Mid-Sussex)

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much is being allocated from the Community Infrastructure Fund to support transport infrastructure related to planned housing development in mid-Sussex. [46686]

Ms Buck: None. The Community Infrastructure Fund was established to support transport infrastructure costs that enable faster housing development in the four growth areas announced in the 'Sustainable Communities Plan' (Thames Gateway, Milton Keynes South Midlands, London Stansted Cambridge Peterborough and Ashford).

Humber Bridge

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment of the purpose the Humber Bridge would serve was made in advance of its construction. [45338]

Dr. Ladyman: The construction of the Humber Bridge was enabled by legislation—the Humber Bridge Act 1959 as amended by the Humber Bridge Act 1971—promoted by a consortium of Humberside local authorities.

It was for those authorities to assess the role the Bridge would serve.

A report entitled 'Humberside: A Feasibility Study' was produced by the Central Unit for Environmental Planning in 1969 (published for the then Department of Economic Affairs). This report considered the likely need for major development in the Humberside area in the 1980s—based on estimates of population growth in the UK—and concluded that there was a case for a Humber Bridge being built by 1976 to facilitate improvements to Humberside's economy and underwrite the area's value for major development.

Lighthouse Keepers

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many lighthouse keepers there are in Great Britain. [45967]

Dr. Ladyman: None. The automation of all lighthouses over the last 30 years has made the role of the lighthouse keeper defunct. The lights are monitored by the General Lighthouse Authorities' operation centres in Harwich and Edinburgh and require little or no maintenance outside the annual maintenance regime.

London Airports

Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the airports within a 100 mile radius of London that take commercial air traffic; in each case what the existing weekly capacity for flights is; and to what percentage of that capacity each airport is operating in relation to (a) wide bodied jets, (b) commercial passenger aeroplanes and (c) executive and personal jets. [45661]

Ms Buck: This information is not held centrally in the form requested. However, information on aircraft movements at those airports is available from the Civil
 
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Aviation Authority website at: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/2004Annual/Table_03_1_ Aircraft_Movements_2004.pdf

M42

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles on average use the (a) northbound and (b) southbound sections of the M42 between (i) junction 5 and junction 6, (ii) junction 6 and junction 7, (iii) junction 7 and junction 8 and (iv) junction 8 and junction 9 each day. [46313]

Dr. Ladyman: The average daily traffic flows between the specified junctions of M42 are as follows. The figures are taken from data collected in 2005:

Junctions 5–6
Northbound	65,000
Southbound	66,900
Junctions 6–7
Northbound	63,500
Southbound	68,400
Junctions 7–8
Southbound	49,600
Junctions 8–9
Southbound	44,400

Similar data is not currently available for M42 northbound between Junction 7 and 9. A traffic monitoring facility for this stretch of road is in the process of being commissioned.

National Safety Camera Programme

Mr. Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the locations identified by the National Safety Camera Programme where casualties on roads with speed cameras have increased; and what steps he is taking to reduce the casualty rates in these locations. [45607]

Dr. Ladyman: Details of all the cameras in England and Wales operating in the National Safety Camera Programme as at 31 March 2004, including those where casualties had increased, were published in June 2004 alongside the three-year evaluation of the National Safety Camera Programme. This information is on the Department's website.

It should be recognised that at any individual location there is some element of chance variation in the number of serious accidents between one year and the next, so it would be wrong to conclude automatically that a camera is not effective. However, the Handbook of Rules and Guidance for the National Safety Camera Programme for England and Wales for 2005–06 published in November 2004, requires partnerships to, at least annually, review the effectiveness of existing camera sites and to specifically consider sites where there appears to be a continuing problem of high numbers of collisions, notwithstanding the use of cameras, to assess whether further or different action should be taken.

In these instances partnerships should consider what alternative cost-effective engineering or other solutions should be implemented to tackle the problem instead of, or in addition to, the cameras. Solutions might include greater speed enforcement, road improvements, traffic
 
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calming or road safety education and information measures. Operational cases for 2005–06 indicated that as a result some 104 camera sites were being stood down.

An updated Handbook of Rules and Guidance for the National Safety Camera Programme for 2006–07 has today been published on the Department's website. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House. This requires partnerships to keep existing sites under review.

Office of Rail Regulation

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people are employed by the Office of Rail Regulation. [44778]

Derek Twigg: As at Monday 16 January 2006, the Office of Rail Regulation employed 135 people.

Port of London Authority (Consultation) Harbour Revision Order

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons hon. Members representing constituencies with riparian areas were not consulted prior to the making of the Port of London Authority (Consultation) Harbour Revision Order 2005; and if he will make a statement. [43154]

Dr. Ladyman: In line with statutory requirements applications for Harbour Revision Orders are advertised in the London Gazette and local newspapers. It is not current practice to inform MPs separately about Harbour Revision Orders.

Private Aircraft

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many privately operated aircraft have landed in airports in the UK in each of the last five years; and what information is collected on the operators of private aircraft. [45977]

Ms Buck: The CAA publishes aircraft movement data compiled from returns by UK airports in their Annual UK Airport Statistics report. The number of privately operated movements, which have landed at or taken off from UK airports, is shown as follows.

	Total number of private movements (for all UK reporting airports)
2004	221,096
2003	231,722
2002	212,982
2001	247,361

These figures exclude private movements operated by aero-club members for instruction or pleasure, on which the CAA also collects data. Data for 2005 are not yet available.

As private flights are not required to seek the prior permission of a State to overfly, land or make non-traffic stops the Department does not hold information for these flights. However, the individual airports, as well as air traffic management providers (NATS Ltd. and Eurocontrol), do keep records of aircraft movements for their own purposes.
 
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