Last week I submitted my response to the Transport for the South East Draft Transport Strategy consultation, outlining the clear need for an integrated transport strategy and duty between transport bodies to co-ordinate, in order to minimise disruption. This is essential if we are to keep Runnymede and Weybridge moving.
Almost every month I need to meet with or write to transport authorities following instances of severe disruption. This is causing countless hours of delays, disrupting people’s lives and comes at a huge cost to the local economy. I have therefore used this opportunity to bring together the key issues across all our transport networks which need to be addressed, from the planning and delivery of major infrastructure works, management of local roadworks, performance of our rail networks – including level crossings! - accessibility and affordability of transport options, reducing noise and air pollution and effective co-ordination across these networks. You can see full details of my response below.
Transport policy itself is currently facing high levels of disruption, through the nationalisation of SWR, local government and talk of a potential new national transport policy from the Government. But whatever the organisational structures in place may be, undertaking this work must be a priority if we are to support both economic growth and our communities.
As part of my work to drive this forward I also met with Rail Minister Lord Hendy this week to discuss SWR nationalisation, where I raised the continued issues with performance, timetabling, safety, level crossing performance and more and sought assurances that these would be prioritised under a new national rail operator. Lord Hendy agreed these issues should be able to be addressed under the new model, and I look forward to working with the Government and the new national operator to bring about these improvements.
