Extract from third
reading of the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons)
Bill
(West Dorset) (Con): I
would welcome investment in the tactile paving that my hon.
Friend will be receiving at Darlington. I understand that it is
part of a £100 million scheme to develop the whole station. That
is major investment for a wonderful part of the world, but West
Dorset is equally wonderful, and I cannot remember the last time
we saw major investment in one of our railway stations in rural
Dorset. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for allowing me to make
this point. Access for disabled people who need to travel in
taxis to and from trains, especially in the absence of rural bus
services, is incredibly important, and we often do not pay
attention to it.
You may be interested to know, Madam Deputy Speaker, that in
three areas in rural Dorset one has to put one’s hand out for the
train driver to stop. Those train stations have only steps, and
they are completely inaccessible to disabled people arriving by
car. I hope the DFT and my hon. Friend the Minister will pursue a
wider piece of work to develop connectivity for disabled people
who travel by car and taxi to get on a train.
(Grantham and Stamford)
(Con): My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Does he take
comfort from the fact that Great British
Railways will have a statutory duty to make train
stations more accessible? And will he support Grantham’s bid to
host the headquarters of Great British
Railways
: I am open to being
lobbied to support bids. I hope my hon. Friend will forgive me
for not declaring at this moment which bid I will support. We
need to be careful not to stray from the point...
The Minister of State, Department for Transport ():...We have had an excellent
debate. We have covered the differences between rural and urban
constituencies, although many face similar challenges around
accessibility. There has also been mention of Great British
Railways and its HQ competition. I know that
several hon. Members present have bids in for that; I will not
name them but they know who they are—I think you are one, Madam
Deputy Speaker. There were 42 bids and we await the outcome of
the competition but there has been some healthy engagement...
For context, CLICK HERE
Extract from third
reading of the British Sign Language Bill (private bill)
(Darlington) (Con):...It
would be remiss of me not to mention the Head of Steam museum in
Darlington. You may wonder why that is Mr Deputy Speaker, but
only yesterday it announced a whole new series of British Sign
Language films to illustrate our heritage in Darlington. As we
see investment going into our rail heritage quarter, I hope that
we will see more of that so that people who are deaf who visit
Head of Steam can get that help to see the history and heritage
of Darlington—we hope to be the home of Great
British Railways subject to the current
competition—and see those films. That is truly tremendous, and I
am grateful to Darlington Borough Council for ensuring that that
happened before this debate...
For context, CLICK HERE
