I will say a mute halle..... for this first part....
The ..lujah comes when I see the evidence on the ground.


North Somerset bus services to transform with £105m improvement plan
23/06/2022
Bus services in North Somerset will be transformed over the next three years thanks to a major investment programme by North Somerset Council in partnership with the West of England Combined Authority.
These improvements will also accelerate the decarbonisation of transport – a key priority for the council as part of its commitment to tackle the climate emergency.

Following a successful bid to the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)), over £105m funding is allocated for improvements, with £48m earmarked for capital improvements in North Somerset alone. £57.5m will be used as a pooled revenue fund with the West of England Combined Authority to enable delivery of the Bus Service Improvement Plan. The final funding amount will be confirmed by the DfT later this year

At their meeting on Wednesday 22 June, North Somerset Council’s Executive made a recommendation that the Council approves the commissioning plan to deliver the Bus Service Improvement Plan. This will see bus priority measures on key roads including the A370, A369 and A38.

Improvements will include:

An ambitious fares support package to ensure that buses remain excellent value as inflationary costs impact on the bus industry.

A significant increase in the current bus network, delivering a comprehensive network of services with frequency standards matched to the population densities and demands.

Higher bus frequencies in our towns and urban areas, offering a good range of destinations and connections including with rail. Major towns should expect a minimum frequency of 60 minutes, with many increased to every 30 or 20 minutes on priority corridors such as the A370, A369 and A38.

A range of bus services to support the 24/7 economy, providing improvements to the early morning, evening, night, and weekend services.

A single bus network with every vehicle and bus stop identifiable as part of the network, through a common brand.

Reliable, faster and consistent journey times.

The improvements will be delivered through an ‘Enhanced Partnership’ model, to be approved by the DfT. This is a statutory agreement between local transport authorities, bus operators and highway authorities under which each party makes legally binding commitments to improve bus services and the facilities associated with them.
An Enhanced Partnership has the potential to bring about improvements quickly, and it puts in place a framework under which future bus service improvements can be delivered as the capital schemes are delivered.

We have declared a climate emergency and transport decarbonisation is an essential part of our action plan to reduce emissions to net zero in North Somerset. Around 43 per cent of our carbon emissions are from transport and we cannot continue to use the car in the same way as we have done for the previous 50 years.

This funding package offers a truly transformational level of funding, eclipsing anything previously seen in public transport in the history of North Somerset Council. The investment represents a genuine opportunity to deliver many of the 2030 carbon reduction targets, by improving the effectiveness of public transport to a level that creates a genuine alternative to the use of private vehicles.

CLLR STEVE HOGG, NORTH SOMERSET COUNCIL’S EXECUTIVE MEMBER WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRANSPORT

Dr Liam Fox
(North Somerset) (Con)
Part 2

I warned in November that the extra six-month delay for what I believe was an unjustified environmental assessment, or other similar delay, would put pressure on the partners in the project, who simply would not be able to find extra money of that order.

What am I asking the Minister for tonight? First, I am seeking agreement to an additional £15.58 million—that is the capital funding provision. Secondly, I am asking for agreement to implement the previously proposed governance structure, with the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport) taking on the client role. If that is not agreeable, incidentally, the funding gap increases by another £14 million. Thirdly, I am asking for agreement to work with North Somerset Council and the West of England Combined Authority to find a solution to fund the forecast additional MetroWest 1 operating subsidy cost of £11.24 million, recognising that North Somerset Council, a small unitary authority, and WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) have no funding streams for additional revenue.

The Minister recently indicated that there would be no more money in the Department, but the latest ministerial position ignores key cost drivers that have arisen in the interim period, since 2017, which are largely outside the control of the project team. Those include unbudgeted operational costs; requirements and inflationary costs, linked to associated programme delays, arising from the Toggle showing location ofColumn 266Department’s development consent order—that adds £28 million; DFT-led changes to the project procurement strategy, which add £6.1 million; market price increases, which are outside the control of the Government and add £39.5 million; and of course the pandemic, which adds an estimated £4.8 million.

Those numbers are tiny when we are talking about projects such as HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)). Let me remind my hon. Friend the Minister about the benefits that the project will bring that fall within the full aims of Government policy. It will significantly reduce travel time from Bristol to Portishead to 23 minutes, compared with 60 minutes-plus—on a good day—by bus and an optimistic 50 minutes-plus by car, and greatly improve people’s access to employment and services, as I outlined. It will bring more than 50,000 people in Portishead and Pill into the direct catchment area of a railway station for the first time in more than 60 years.

Regeneration of our railways has been a key aim of the Government. This project will deliver 1.2 million additional rail journeys and £7 million of revenue within 15 years of opening. It will produce benefits to the regional economy of £43 million gross value added per annum. It will remove 13 million car kilometres annually by 2041. It will bring new employment opportunities regionally and bring the benefits of economic growth to Portishead and wider North Somerset. There will be sustained environmental benefits, and the major improvement in travel to work times will bring associated personal quality of life and community benefits. What is not to like about this project?

One more push from my hon. Friend the Minister and her colleagues and we can get this project across the line. What could give our region a better boost in this time of uncertainty than to put all the worries behind us, once and for all? I look to my hon. Friend for the push.

7.11pm
The Minister of State, Department for Transport
(Wendy Morton)
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I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) on securing this debate on the future of Portishead railway. He has been a passionate advocate of reopening the railway from Bristol to Portishead for many years—since long before I became the Rail Minister. I recognise that the project has strong support in his constituency and I am grateful to him for setting out its benefits this evening, as well as some of the challenges.

John Penrose
(Weston-super-Mare) (Con)
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The Minister is right to congratulate our right hon. Friend, my neighbour and co-MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for north Somerset, but it is not just his constituency that is affected. Right next door in my constituency, many people are in favour of the project, not only because of the reductions in the environmental impact of all those trips to and from Bristol, but because of the levelling-up impact, particularly on less well-off places such as Pill and others in our area.

Wendy Morton
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I hear my hon. Friend’s comments and recognise that the project runs beyond the boundaries of the North Somerset constituency.

The proposal is now part of MetroWest, a third-party metropolitan rail programme promoted by West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council. The Government have already committed funding Toggle showing location ofColumn 267support of £31.9 million to close the funding gap for the project to reopen the Portishead line to passengers, and a further request from the joint promoters for £15.6 million of additional funding was recently received. I assure my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset that the case is being carefully considered by the Government. The Department will continue to work closely with WECA, NSC and Network Rail counterparts on the approval process for the scheme’s full business case.

I want it to be clear that I fully recognise that the scheme is of great importance to my right hon. Friend’s constituents and to the wider Greater Bristol area. The congestion on the A369 between Bristol and Portishead, with journey times of about an hour in peak periods, is a barrier to travel. Reintroducing a rail connection would bring the communities of Portishead and Bristol closer together, improving work opportunities for local residents and for leisure and tourism. It would also bring people closer to the rest of the country.

The funding is subject to the granting of a development consent order, which is a statutory requirement, and a satisfactory full business case. The full business case will also need to progress through my Department’s rail network enhancement pipeline approval process, a framework by which all publicly funded rail enhancements are considered.

My right hon. Friend will be aware that, with regard to the scheme’s development consent order, the Secretary of State issued a “minded to approve” decision on the 19 April. This sets out that the Secretary of State is minded to make the order, subject to receiving further information and evidence regarding the costs and funding of the project, with the reasons for that set out in the letter. The Secretary of State has requested that this information be provided by 30 November. To allow sufficient time for this information to be provided and for the Secretary of State to consider it, the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Robert Courts), issued a written ministerial statement on 19 April extending the deadline for the DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation) application to 19 February 2023. Should satisfactory information be provided ahead of November, the Secretary of State will look to issue a final decision on the DCO application as soon as possible and ahead of the February 2023 deadline.

It is important to note that I am not involved in the decision on this application, but I am sure my right hon. Friend will understand that this is still a live application under consideration in my Department. I am therefore unable to take part in any discussion on the pros and cons of the development consent order itself, to ensure that the process is correctly followed and remains fair to all parties.

I must also stress that the development consent order process is a statutory requirement under the Planning Act 2008. The process for considering an application must follow the legislative requirements, and the Secretary of State can request any further information that he considers necessary to allow him to undertake this consideration and to fulfil his statutory duties.

More broadly, with regard to the Government’s commitment to rail schemes, we have committed to levelling up the country, and reconnecting communities to the railway is central to that ambition.



Karin Smyth
I have been a Member of Parliament for only seven years. I do not recall, off the top of my head, how many Ministers I and the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) have appeared before on this very issue. A range of reasons have always been given as to why this is not happening. Last year, we understood that there were some environmental questions to be answered. I gently say to the Minister and her officials that each time a new Conservative Minister comes to the House with a new range of hoops to jump through and a new range of excuses as to why our part of the country does not have this commitment, which we long believed we had, the worse it is for the Conservative party.

Wendy Morton

As I set out earlier, I can assure the hon. Lady and my right hon. Friend that the Department —this Government—will continue to work closely with the West of England Combined Authority, with North Somerset Council and with Network Rail counterparts on the approval process for the scheme’s full business case. I give that commitment this evening.

Dr Fox

As Secretary of State, I was rather too fond of saying to my officials that the difference between a doctor and a civil servant was that, for a doctor, a good outcome was that the patient got better, and for a civil servant, a good outcome was that the patient was treated for a very long time. It seems to me that we are in one of these examples where the process is almost becoming an end in itself. We actually need results. I entirely understand the point that my hon. Friend is making about the DCO and the fact that she cannot comment on it, but what we need is a decision to be brought to a conclusion as soon as possible. We need a real railway for real jobs and for real environmental benefits. I understand the financial constraints and would not be calling for greater overall spending, but within the budget that exists in the Department for Transport we must have movement, because the delay that we are facing is becoming intolerable.

Wendy Morton

I appreciate what my right hon. Friend is saying, but obviously there is a process that I and the Department must go through.

When it comes to the Government’s commitment to rail, I gently remind colleagues in the Chamber that, as part of our levelling-up agenda, in January 2020 the Government pledged £500 million for the restoring your railway programme, to deliver on our manifesto commitment to start reopening lines and stations. That investment is about reconnecting communities across the country, regenerating local economies and improving access to jobs, homes and education.

We reopened the Dartmoor line in November last year, restoring passenger services between Exeter and Okehampton for the first time in 50 years. That has been a great success, with passenger journeys double the anticipated level. In May this year the service frequency on the Dartmoor line was doubled so that passengers now have an hourly service. That followed further infrastructure work that has delivered an improved journey time of around 35 minutes between Okehampton and Exeter St David’s. The line opened two years ahead of schedule and significantly under its approved budget.Toggle showing location ofColumn 269

The Government also announced, in January 2021, £34 million of funding to progress plans to reopen the Northumberland line to passenger services between Ashington and Newcastle, with six new stations and a service of two trains an hour by the end of 2023. I gently say to the hon. Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) that those are some strong examples of this Government’s commitment to investing in the railways.

The Government also recognise the importance of the Greater Bristol area as one of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)’s most productive and fastest growing city regions, which is why we continue to make significant investments there. For example, on Friday 10 June funding of £95 million for phase 1 of the Bristol Temple quarter regeneration programme was announced. That investment will transform access to Bristol Temple Meads station, delivering new and improved station entrances to the north, south and east, with related transport interchange and active travel provision. The new entrances will make it much easier to reach the station from the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods, and the eastern entrance will connect to the Temple quarter—one of the largest urban regeneration sites in Europe and soon to be home to the University of Bristol’s enterprise campus.

That project will complement wider investment in the regional and national rail network already being made, and the Temple Meads station upgrade will unlock transport to south Wales and the south-west of England, significantly increasing passenger capacity and improving connectivity between Bristol, Cardiff and London. This work is complemented by the recent refurbishment work at Bristol Temple Meads station, which will provide better passenger facilities and improved accessibility.Toggle showing location ofColumn 270

The Government also invested £132 million in the remodelling of the railway in the Temple Meads area, which was the largest enhancement project on the Great Western route in 2021. That work will mean more regular and reliable trains with more seats coming through the station. The new railway layout is also a key enabler of the MetroWest scheme, which is allowing new local services that improve connectivity between Bristol and its neighbouring communities, enabling people across the south-west and south Wales to benefit. A new parkway station at Portway on the MetroWest line towards Severn Beach, which received £1.7 million of backing from my Department’s new stations fund, is also being built. The station will serve both the adjacent park-and-ride site and local residents, and is expected to open in December this year.

To conclude, the Government are committed to improving rail in the wider Bristol area as part of the levelling up of the west of England. I listened carefully to what my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset set out this evening, and we will continue to support the West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset Council to develop their business case for the reopening of the railway between Bristol and Portishead. We fully acknowledge and appreciate the importance of this project to his constituency.

Here is the Hansard report of the debate. Worth a read to get the most up to date picture.


Dr Liam Fox
(North Somerset) (
Here we go again. Portishead railway has become something of a perennial favourite of those Members who flock to the Chamber to hear these important issues debated, but I will recap for those who have not caught up on the politics of the saga.

The story so far is that we had a Labour Government, for whom our project met all the criteria—environmental, transport and economic—yet no progress was made. We had a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition Government, for whom the project met all the criteria and very little progress was made. We now have a Conservative Government and more progress has been made, but much too slowly.

Why do we need the Portishead rail link at all? Because congestion across the region costs £300 million a year and causes major delays every day, particularly at junction 19 of the M5. Traffic queueing times are increasing and are predicted to grow by 74% by 2036. The alternative to this programme would be a major new bridge, which would cost a minimum of £250 million —and we all know how these numbers get inflated—and would not be deliverable until 2030 at the earliest, for which we can read “not in our lifetime.” Alternatively, Portishead and its line would be open by 2025.

The environmental cost of the increased traffic congestion is considerable, so improved rail transport will clearly have enormous benefits, but that is by no means all. When looking at the Government’s levelling-up agenda, we have to recognise that there are areas within affluent parts of our country that are themselves much poorer. North Somerset, as a constituency and as a district, is extremely affluent, but it is not uniformly affluent. Pill in my constituency has a high index of deprivation, and it will have a station on the new line.

The question of growth and jobs is one of the main issues for the railway line. Portishead is a centre of innovation and creativity with numerous successful and burgeoning small businesses, but labour is at a premium in my constituency. Unemployment is at 1.6%, compared with the national average of 3.8%. The rate in neighbouring constituencies is: Bristol East, 4.4%; Bristol South, 4.3%; and Bristol West, 4%. They are all above the national average.

The line is not just about improving the convenience for people who live in Portishead and work in Bristol; it is also about giving people in those areas of higher unemployment access to areas where they can build businesses, provide new jobs and be hugely involved in the Government’s efforts to increase economic activity.

Karin Smyth
(Bristol South) (Lab)

I am disappointed to be debating this subject again, but I am pleased to support the right hon. Gentleman. Reopening the passenger line both ways is important, as he says, but opening new stations near Parson Street and Bedminster in Bristol South is crucial to pursuing low-carbon forms of transport and to supporting the new housing that is coming forward. I am keen to work with him in the interests of the entire Bristol and North Somerset area, and I urge the Government to do more.



Dr Fox

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady, who makes a very good point, which augments what I was saying. Housing is being built in Bedminster, for example. Where are people going to go to work? We need high-income, good-quality jobs. The businesses we have in Portishead—the spin-offs from avionics, for example—provide those kinds of jobs. The problem is: how do we get people in those areas of high unemployment and where the new housing is going to be built to where the jobs are? The danger at the moment is that not only are we unable to do that, but companies are unable to grow because of the restrictions on labour availability, they move to somewhere else and we lose the wealth from our region.

As ever, it all comes down to money. In 2017, the scheme budget was set at £116 million, assuming a line opening date of December 2021 and excluding a new requirement to fund operational costs. Following three separate Department for Transport-directed delays to the development consent order approval—one of which we debated here only last November—the pandemic, and unprecedented inflationary and market pressures, the revised forecast at completion was £210 million in December 2021. Following cost mitigations amounting to £47 million, the latest forecast sits at £163 million. After further increased regional budget contributions, that leaves a funding gap of £26.82 million, comprising £15.58 million in capital and £11.24 million in revenue, which we have requested the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport) to cover.

Just in case anyone has forgotten our debate in November, I remind them that I said then:

“A six-month delay, as suggested by the Secretary of State’s office, would have a potentially devastating impact. It is important that we understand whether this six-month figure was simply plucked out of the air and whether a shorter delay would deal with any reservations from the Department.”

That mattered a great deal to us. I also said:

“It has been assessed that the impact on cost beyond 14 January 2022 will be in the order of an additional £13 million at minimum”.�

Just watched the debate. Liam Fox set out the case extremely clearly quoting lots of figures about the various delays, all laid at the Dft's door.
He could not have tried harder to ask for the final push to get the project over the line. He quoted that the Sos was minded to approve the DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation), as all the environmental objections had been overcome. He could issue that DCO just as soon as he is assured the funding gap is closed and well before the 19th February 2023.
Liam Fox was supported by Karin Smyth the Labour MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for Bristol South, and John Penrose the WSM MP. He made a compelling case for pointing out that the neighbouring Bristol constituencies have unemployment rates above 4.5% but Portishead has plenty of job opportunities just waiting to be taken. However with a poor bus service of one bus every 30 minutes which all too often becomes one bus an hour, and a car taking 50 minutes via Junction 19 of the M5 on a good day, a reliable train service is a necessity.
I would encourage everyone who can, to attend the meeting in Pill on Saturday 18th at 1115 under the viaduct between Underbanks and Watch House lane, to demonstrate our frustration with the continuing delays, and to show just how much this railway is needed.

It's an adjourment debate...these are ususually 30 minutes at the very end of the day with the proposer of the motion, a minister to reply and very few MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) in attendance. This will be the 3rd such debate on this subject since he described Portishead as 'the longest cul de sac in Europe'
way way way back in 2005!

This thread reminded me of a song, that some of us, of a certain surfeit of old men excluded by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) customer surveys, might recall....

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Yes, mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
If the words sound queer and funny to your ear
A little bit jumbled and jivey
Sing mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy

The last lines about animal feedstuffs for biomass set me thinking !

If it wasn't for the ever loyal but dwindling surfeit of old men travelling on Firstgroup trains and buses, they wouldn't have anyone they could send the survey out to.....

Very well said Graham. Agree with every word and I couldn't have put it better myself.

Do they get to play their jokers for double points and then hit each other with giant inflatable marshmallow sticks into the water ??

We won't mention the permanently chortling presenter now detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure, but a shout out for Eddie Waring and Arthur Ellis who donned natty jackets for the ITAKO/JSF versions of the show, long before a certain Michael Portillo inflicted his form of sartorial elegance among us.

When one of these things falls off, will it be a case of Too loose or too lost

Couldn't help thinking that the Train Manager said 'Oooooh, driver,take her away!!'.

It beggars belief that the same Dft that 'gave' North Somerset 147 million last week to improve BUS services, is now quibbling with North Somerset and WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) over a 'piffling' 13 million that would finally lead to the DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation) being granted. Someone really needs to step in and knock some heads together at the absurdity of it all.

Never in the history of rail reopenings,has so much been surveyed,written about (6.3km at the last count), spoken about, has had so much time,money, effort spent on it and so many experts and consultants been employed, retained, sacked and rehired, for so little result.

I have had an email from Dr Liam Fox MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) telling me that the planning issues referred to in the DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation) have been resolved. The financial issue is an extra £13  million that needs to be found between the Dft  North Somerset and WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) in the next 10 months.

I am informed by a reliable committee member of the Portishead Railway group that there is a 34 page letter somewhere justifying this decision to kick the can down the road yet again. It would be helpful if someone could track that down and post it here.

And ever more twiddling of thumbs....just had a email from Dft to say the decision has been delayed YET AGAIN to 19th February 2023 to give North Somerset more time to secure all the funding.
Absolutely ridiculous !!

I have been asked by my right honourable friend, the Secretary of State to make this written ministerial statement. This statement concerns the application made by North Somerset District Council under the Planning Act 2008 for the construction of a new railway on the trackbed on the former branch line from Bristol to Portishead.

Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make his decision within 3 months of receipt of the examining authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) to extend the deadline and make a statement to the House of Parliament announcing the new deadline.

The Secretary of State received the examining authority’s report on the Portishead Branch Line – MetroWest Phase 1 development consent order application on 19 July 2021 and, following an earlier extension of 4 months to allow further consideration of environmental matters, the current deadline for a decision is 19 April 2022.

The deadline for the decision is now to be extended to 19 February 2023 (an extension of 7 months) to allow North Somerset District Council further time to demonstrate that funding for the entire scheme has been secured.

The decision to set the new deadline is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent for the above application.

Published 19 April 2022