Traffic Management Bill
9:25 am
Mr David Jamieson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Plymouth, Devonport, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) during proceedings on the Traffic Management Bill the Standing Committee shall meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9.25 am and 2.30 pm;
(2) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order, namely Clauses 1 to 39, Schedule 1, Clause 40, Schedules 2 and 3, Clauses 41 to 50, Schedule 4, Clauses 51 to 60, Schedules 5 and 6, Clauses 61 to 69, Schedule 7, Clause 70, Schedule 8, Clauses 71 to 73, Schedule 9, Clauses 74 to 80, Schedule 10, Clauses 81 to 86, Schedules 11 and 12, Clauses 87 to 93, new Clauses, new Schedules;
(3) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 5.30 pm on Thursday 12th February.
It is a pleasure, Miss Begg, to serve under your chairmanship. I have done so on a number of very happy occasions, and I hope that the next few weeks will be just the same. It is also a pleasure to be here on such a quiet day in Parliament. Very little is going on, and I suspect that there will be enormous press and other interest in what is happening in this Committee, as opposed to elsewhere in the House.
There was general agreement between the usual channels that about eight sittings would be sufficient to deal with the Bill. Obviously, we want to get on with considering it, but we want to do so in a way that is commensurate with proper scrutiny. At last night's meeting of the Programming Sub-Committee—chaired by this Committee's co-Chairman, Mr. Beard, under whose chairmanship we also look forward to serving—I asked whether the Opposition needed more time, and there was no indication that they did. None the less, the Government will be quite happy to reconsider the matter as the Bill proceeds, because we want it to receive proper scrutiny. All being well, we should make good progress. I hope that we can complete part 1 by the end of today, parts 2 and 3 by the end of Thursday, parts 4 and 5 by next Tuesday and the remainder of the Bill, including part 6, by Thursday 5 February.
The principles behind the Bill are clear, and I hope that most of its aims are uncontroversial. It will empower the Highways Agency and local authorities to get to grips with some of the causes of congestion and disruption on our roads, including the motorway and trunk road network and local roads. It complements the other efforts that we are making towards the same end. We are creating additional capacity at key pinch points in the strategic road network and investing billions of pounds in local transport capital, including the £1.9 billion that we announced as recently as December.
We want to get to grips with some of the unnecessary disruption that we all face on our roads and to keep traffic moving on the motorways and
trunk roads. The new traffic officers at the Highways Agency, whom I hope we will have time to discuss today, will be given the job of clearing up after minor incidents and accidents, of ensuring that people are held up no longer than they need be, and of making our roads less congested and much safer.
I also hope that we can get on with discussing how we get the traffic flowing on local roads. The Bill places a new duty on authorities to keep traffic flowing, and there are new powers to enable them to overcome some of the greatest barriers to free-flowing traffic, including powers to control utility street works so that roads are not dug up at the convenience of whoever wants to dig the hole. The Bill will put authorities outside London on a par with those in London, so that people in all parts of the country will follow the accepted rules of the road. With those words, let me say that I am looking forward to our debates.