Extra council funding for roads maintenance

The Autumn Statement included an extra £215 million for local councils on roads maintenance. The allocation for each council has been published.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin says:

The additional funding  will be provided to local highway authorities, including London, to help renew and repair the road network in England. £140m will be allocated in 2013/14, with the remaining £75m in 2014/15.

The funding provided could be used for improvements such as road resurfacing, maintenance or repairs to bridges, or to make repairs to transport infrastructure on the highway network damaged by recent weather events, such as the flooding that some of your constituencies have experienced.

This money, which comes in addition to the £3 billion that the Government is already providing over the Spending Review period to English local authorities for highways maintenance.

McLoughlin's call to end clutter

The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has stressed that local councils now have the power to reduce the confusing clutter of raod signs if they wish to do so.

Speaking to the Campaign to Protect Rural England, he said:

Too many country roads carry a reminder of how insensitive planners can be to aesthetics. Ugly and unnecessary signs clutter up the network. New signs seem to sprout like weeds, without any apparent
consideration of what’s already there. Often what we’re left with is not just a blot on the landscape. It’s confusing and potentially dangerous too.

We had a traffic signs review in 2011, and we’ve relaxed rules that used to insist on two signs by the road side when one would do. And we’re working on revised Traffic Signs Regulations. The combined
effect of these changes will be to give authorities and designers much greater freedom to simplify and use fewer signs at country junctions. So my message today to highways engineers is: if in doubt, don’t do it.

Scare mongering over street lighting reduction not backed by evidence

3,000 miles of motorway do not have street lighting. Some, including the Sunday Telegraph and The Mirror, have presented this as news. The Mirror talked about them being "plunged into darkness." But 3,000 miles of motorway and trunk roads have never had street lighting. The news is that an extra 98 miles are to be unlit.

The Highways Agency are undertaking this modest reduction in street lighting after pilot studies suggested no increase in road accidents.

Tim Harbot, Midlands Regional Director for the Highways Agency, said:

"Since 2009 we've switched lighting off between the hours of midnight and 5am on 15 carefully selected stretches of motorways. This includes some stretches of lighting on the M5 and the M54 in the West Midlands. Evidence so far indicates that switching off the lights hasn't had an impact on safety. Analysis also suggests that switching off lights does not appear to have affected traffic volumes or speed."

The latest alarmist splurge has also stuck the story together with the lighting reductions from local councils. It is mentioned that their are "suggestions" or "concerns" that it might increase crime or accidents. But in places like Essex and Gloucestershire the policy of reducing street lighting is well established for a matter of years. It turns out that burglars don't like the dark as using torches attracts attention.

Labour's u-turn on Boris Bikes

Next year sees an important expansion of Boris Bikes in the capital. Docking Stations for them will appear across Wandsworth, and in my borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. There will also be more of them in Lambeth and in Kensington and Chelsea.

My borough has already had an early start with some Boris Bikes available near Westfield in Shepherd's Bush. But next year they will become a familiar site on the streets across Hammersmith and Fulham. From May there will 60-70 docking stations in our borough each with spaces for a minimum of 25 bicycles.

This is fantastic news for cyclists - who will find it easier to get around, save money, and keep fit. But it is also good news for everyone else. It means less pollution and an easing of traffic congestion and crowding on the buses and tubes.

This is a transport scheme that will be available 24/7 for residents and other people within our borough. It is also an affordable way to travel with annual membership costing just 12p a day. That is important when people are considering whether to take a low paid job, given the cost of commuting.

Southampton Council forced taxi drivers they licensed to record all conversations by their passengers

Many conversations in the back of cabs are not only private but intimate. Often a decision to take a cab is prompted by being the worse for wear. Yet astonishingly in some places these conversations are recorded. The Information Commissioner Christoper Graham has ordered Labour-run Southamton City Council to end the requirement of the taxi drivers they licence to record all conversations taking place in their cab.

The ICO has ruled the council’s policy breaches the Data Protection Act - they have delivered the same verdict on Oxford City Council. This followed a campaign by Big Brother Watch.

While the councils said the measures improved safety, the ICO concluded that the breach of privacy was disproportionate.

Mr Graham, said:

Labour-run York brings in 20mph speed limit as a pet project while cutting basic services

Thom Wiseman, a Conservative activist in York, says the Labour council new speed limit will waste police time and waste Council Taxpayers money on new signs

Labour run York council have decided to implement one of their election pledges, not one of their most popular, which is to introduce a 20mph speed limit on all residential streets in York and surrounding towns.

The police forces in York are already the busiest in the entire of North Yorkshire and now they will have to try and enforce the 20mph speed limits. That is if the council move forwards using frequent repeater signs A 20mph zone can only be enforced if there are frequent repeater signs and only then possible if police can provide the necessary resources to cover these areas, here in lies the cost of hundreds of signs that will need to be installed throughout York. The other major addition is for any street that has a speed over 26mph will have additional traffic calming measures using street furniture to slow traffic down, such as chicanes and even more speed bumps.

Cllr Anna Semlyen is the paid campaign manager for 20s plenty and also the councillor who has been the one shouting about reducing the streets of York to a crawling 20mph and yet apparently she is not paid for her campaigning work in York. Another of her finest hours. Previously it was revealed that she received council funding for her Eco Home Open Day, where she peddles other peoples wares and receives commission. This councillor really does only look after number 1.

Nottingham businesses punished with new parking tax

Labour-run Nottingham City Council has started a new tax on businesses. A Workplace Parking Levy will punish firms that provide parking spaces for their staff.  They will be taxed at £288 a year per space - rising to £380 by 2015.

As well as increasing pressure on parking spaces there is the general message it sends out that anyone interested in starting a business is not welcome in Nottingham. Apart from the financial cost there is also the extra red tape.

There is also the prospect of existing businesses relocating to escape the levy. This would also mean Nottingham City Council losing Business Rates revenue.

Keltruck Nottingham, which services trucks and buses, has 15 parking spaces for staff and says the extra cost is "not sustainable in the long term."

Boris rules out third runway at Heathrow

Amidst some muddled briefings to the Sunday newspapers that the next Conservative manifesto might back a third runway at Heathrow there comes a very clear statement of opposition from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

He says:

‘Heathrow has a great future as a key UK airport. But we cannot endlessly expand it, and cram a quart into a pint pot.

‘A third runway would be an environmental disaster. It would mean a huge increase in plans over London, and intolerable traffic and fumes in the west of the city – and it will not be built as long as I am Mayor of London.

‘That is why the Government is right to look at all new solutions for extra aviation capacity except the third runway at Heathrow.

‘I look forward to engaging with Justine Greening’s consultation this summer.

‘By contrast, Ken Livingstone’s useless anti-business policies would mean no extra aviation capacity anywhere in the south east.

‘He offers no hope to British business that needs direct flights to Asia and Latin America.

‘His delusional programme seems to mean grounding the business community in London – but spending huge sums of taxpayers’ money for himself and his cronies to visit Hugo Chavez.

“That is no way to grow the London economy.’

Call for more cities for follow example of Boris Bikes

The Government have written to Counciul leaders urging them to investigate follwoing the example of the Boris Bikes in London and seek sponsors for their own bike hire schemes.

The letter, reported (£) in The Times, from Transport Ministers Norman Baker and Mike Penning says:

You may wish to consider more sponsorship of cycle infrastructure, along the lines of the Barclays hire bikes and cycle superhighways in London, which might permit the development of routes and facilities otherwise’ unachievable.

The letter adds says:

We have also made it easier for you to install Trixi mirrors at junctions to make cyclists more visible to drivers of large vehicles such as buses and HGVs, which are involved in many of the tragic cyclist fatalities. In London, where these were piloted, there have been no fatalities at any junctions where such mirrors have been installed.

Of course sensible proportionate measures should be taken to improve safety. But it is not all doom and gloom. In London the number of people cycling has been rising sharply and the rate of serious injuries, per 100,000 trips, has been falling.

Tory councils serve notice of legal challenge to HS2

An alliance of (mostly Conservative-run) local authorities opposed to the High Speed rail link have threatened the Transport Secretary Justine Greening with a judicial review unless she abandons the current plans announced ion January 10.

Cllr Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire County Council says:

"We are taking this stance with regret. We would far rather that the Government had listened to the people of this country who have decisively rejected this massively expensive project and instead opted for the far better, cheaper and more quickly delivered alternative put forward by 51m. Communities in the Midlands and the north of England risk being bypassed and left to decline by HS2. We should be investing in our existing rail and road infrastructure across the entire country to bring jobs and growth now when it is needed."

Cllr Ray Puddifoot, Vice-Chairman of 51m and Leader of Hillingdon Council adds:

"The consultation process was unfair and inadequate in many respects. Ordinary people whose lives and livelihoods will be severely affected between Birmingham and Manchester and Leeds were not even given an adequate chance to have their say. The whole project represents extremely poor value for money for the hard pressed UK taxpayer and it is right that we challenge the Government's decision to progress with this misguided scheme."