Following the first meeting of the Transport Select Committee, the Chair, Huw Merriman MP, outlined the priorities for the Committee’s immediate future programme.

Huw said “Each of us, as members of the Committee and members of Parliament, regularly face concerns from constituents and fellow parliamentarians about the impact of transport on our daily lives. We will, of course, monitor the progress of nationally significant and controversial projects such as HS2, looking particularly at the next steps of that project.

“But while we will set out to understand the successes and failures of the transport headlines, the vast majority of our travel is done locally. People ask questions like what’s happened to my bus route or why should my mobility limit my transport choices too? Why isn’t my city served better by transport links? Or why can’t I choose to walk or cycle to work without facing congestion, worrying about road safety or the quality of the air our children breathe?

“We’ll be following through on the commitments which the Department for Transport gave our predecessor Committee and seeking more of our own. We’ll be turning over the transport headlines but we’ll also be seeking answers on key questions for this Parliament, such as how to reduce the carbon footprint of transport to meet the Government’s legal obligation to reduce greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050.”

In the next month, the Committee will announce plans for work on:

High Speed 2: Next steps
Now that the first phase has been approved by the Government, the Committee intends to hold a one-off session on the key future of challenges of the project, including the integration between HS2 and rail services in the North and Midlands.

Electric scooters: pavement scourge or carbon saviour?
The UK is the last European economy where e-scooters are illegal to be used everywhere, except on private land (with the landowner’s permission). The Committee will launch a short inquiry on this emerging area of policy ahead of a Government consultation planned later this year.

Young and novice drivers
Just seven percent of the UK’s driving licence holders are aged 17-24 but they are involved in 20% of fatal and serious collisions. Following an invitation to the public to share their concerns about road safety in the last Parliament, significant concern was raised about the high level of collisions for young and novice drivers. The Transport Committee will resume this inquiry to consider why these drivers are more at risk and how Government plans to reduce these numbers.

Local transport priorities
Potholes, buses and active travel were three Committee Report which secured key commitments from the Department for Transport to boost the priority of local transport. The Committee will pursue progress updates on key recommendations from each.