(Filton and Bradley Stoke)
(Con):...I will begin by highlighting a particularly significant
issue in my constituency, which I have raised many times in the
Chamber: the M49 junction, which would link the motorway directly
to the Severnside enterprise and distribution area. The area is
home to GKN
Amazon, Tesco, Royal Mail and many other companies. When
completed, the junction will not only help to bring thousands of
new jobs to the area but help to reduce heavy goods traffic and
pollution in small surrounding villages such as Pilning and
Easter Compton.
It seems remarkable to me that the project was started without
the means to complete it and connect it to the link road. There
is essentially a 160 metre-long privately owned strip of land
between the newly built motorway junction and the road connecting
it to the distribution centre. How was £50 million of taxpayers’
money spent on a motorway junction without the land to connect it
up to the link road?
Since 2019, I have had meetings with the Secretary of State for
Transport, roads Ministers, South Gloucestershire Council,
Highways England and the West of England Combined Authority, but
we still seem no closer to getting the project completed and
connecting the road to the motorway. I will continue to meet
Ministers, South Gloucestershire Council and Highways England,
and I will urge them all to get a grip of the situation and get
the project completed as quickly as possible.
I turn to the bid for local levelling-up funding to regenerate
world war one Hangar 16U, an exciting and substantial project by
developer YTL located alongside the Brabazon and Charlton Hayes
mixed-use developments. The restoration and reuse of that
historic building will achieve the following aims. First, it will
secure the restoration of a world war one hangar that contributes
significantly to the unique and important heritage of the area,
making the building accessible to all. Secondly, it will support
the wider regeneration aims of the north fringe masterplan, which
in turn will address issues of deprivation in some of the nearby
communities of Patchway and Filton.
Thirdly, the project will support visitor and tourist attractions
while meeting the needs of existing and newly emerging
communities. Fourthly, it is in a highly accessible location by
foot, cycle and public transport. Fifthly, its community focus
supports community cohesion and wellbeing. Having always
supported the evolving north fringe development area, I have no
doubt that when it is completed, it will be a truly fantastic
place to live, work, visit and be entertained. I look forward to
the result of the funding bid and very much hope that Ministers
will look favourably upon it.
As well as its historic links with aviation, demonstrated
fantastically by the Aerospace Bristol museum and science,
technology, engineering and maths learning centre—home to the
last Concorde to land at Filton airfield, where the British
Concordes were designed and built—my constituency in the
south-west of England is at the centre of the largest aerospace
cluster in Europe. There are 800 companies and 57,000 people in
the south-west working in the aerospace supply chain for
companies such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GKN and
Leonardo...
