Yatton to Clevedon.....

Bristol to Portishead ... 

One of a number of late closures where the decision to is much lamented and was probably the wrong decision - at least for 21st Century.  Add Oxford - Cambridge, Taunton - Minehead, Wareham - Swanage,  Paignton - Kingswear and Barnstaple Junction - Ilfracombe in our area.

Whether the new minister will be able to influence any decision on the reinstatement of the heavy rail line from Fleetwood via Thornton to Poulton is very much a different matter though - indeed perhaps that could be converted to a tram route?  It is a rail route that travels through pretty much built up areas throughout so would, in my mind, be an excellent candidate to do something with other than provide a short distance of heritage railway.

The new modern trams accept bus passes.

I have just returned from Cleveleys, bringing with me my mother, the elder Mrs FT, N!. Heady times are afoot, with the extension of the tram system inland to Blackpool North. It is a good time to be a minister in charge of rail things, and also to be the MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys!

There's also this:

http://www.pwrs.org/

Good luck to them.

OTC

What worries me more is that Theresa May wrote "F. Off" on her papers next to Boris's name and a civil servant misunderstood her meaning. 

Minister Greg Clark was briefly given wrong job

Cabinet minister Greg Clark was given the wrong job by mistake during the appointment of Theresa May's new government.

Mr Clark heads up the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

He was also appointed President of the Board of Trade before officials realised International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, should hold the title.

Mr Clark lasted just four days in the historic role.

Once officials realised the mistake, Mr Fox was formally appointed to the position at a meeting of the Privy Council.

A Whitehall source said: "The appointment was an error. The Privy Council meeting was held very quickly after the reshuffle and the final list of ministerial responsibilities had not been produced. The appointment was therefore corrected at the first opportunity."

The mistaken appointment was made days three days before Mrs May told Parliament in a written statement that Mr Fox's new department would "take on the responsibilities of UK Trade and Investment (and) the relevant trade functions of the former Department for Business Innovation and Skills".

The Board of Trade - which is still formally named "The Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations" - was established in the 17th Century by the King as a rival to Parliament to manage British trade, particularly in the American colonial plantations.

William Pitt created the job of president in 1786. After the board was folded into the modern-day Department of Trade and Industry in 1970, the historic board has met only once, in 1986, to mark its 200th anniversary.

Lord Heseltine chose to be known as President of the Board of Trade when he was appointed to John Major's cabinet in 1992, instead of Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Representing Blackpool N etc one presumes he likes trams, and values 319's over Pacers.

He was on the Transport Select Committee, 2010 - 2012 and was born in Crewe!

Oxford 1st though.

OTC

If its on the DfT website, is any confirmation really needed/nessesary?

The new minister is Paul Maynard  MP for Blackpool  North and Cleveleys.  A a cording to the Dft website

From Railfuture Express:

"One" shouldn't be too sure that the constituents of Maidenhead and Uxbridge would be anti Heathrow expansion, bearing in mind how many of them rely on the airport for employment.........there are isolated areas of extreme resistance (in areas which would be directly affected, ie flattened by LHR expansion) but most people are pretty pragmatic about it - it's the only solution that works in any case to keep Heathrow's place in World aviation and it is vital to the economy and business. Someone needs to grow a pair and get on with it, as we should have with Crossrail decades ago.

John Hayes returns as Minister of State to the Department with Robert Goodwill moving on to become Immigration minister as the Home Office. Will he ask Jonesy at Crosville in WSM for the  return/loan of his old 1929 Sentinel steam lorry that used to run at Whitby, (as Elizabeth), to transport people in and out of the UK ??

Chris Grayling has taken over as Transport Secretary in Theresa May’s government, whilst the new Rail Minister is the Rt Hon John Hayes, MP for South Holland and The Deepings (around Spalding, Lincs.), who was briefly a transport spokesman under David Cameron in 2005.

When considering Heathrow expansion, bear in mind that Mrs May is MP for Maidenhead and that Boris is MP for Uxbridge - one would imagine that the majority of their constituents would rather that they voted against. Don't forget too that Manchester and Birmingham are mainly owned by local authorities (and Manchester also own Stansted).

Also, wasn't Mrs May a long-time rail commuter too? That should help matters.

 

Theresa May will not set the world on fire as an orator. She is less inclined to dress up announcements with flowery details, which is probably a good thing but makes her look dull. She does not have David Cameron's sharp wit, but is certainly very capable. That said, some of the appointments have raised eyebrows. I am sorry to see Patrick McLoughlin go from transport, as he seemed to be doing as good a job as possible given the resources.

Mr Grayling has not had a fair crack of the whip by which to show himself able or otherwise, having been appointed Lord Chancellor / Justice Secretary not only with a remit to slash costs, but also as the first non-lawyer in the post since the 17th century.

Despite things such as Crossrail and GWMR electrification being well under way, his in-tray will be full. The "pending" tray will be even fuller. He will not be able to dodge the runway capacity issue, which can has been kicked many times around the block. I think we may see how he is minded to go with the railways fairly soon as the issues that go with increased airport capacity raise themselves for resolution. Then there is HS2 - over £1 billion has so far been spent on planning, even before the hybrid bill is published. The path of least resistance is to go ahead as planned, and the new Prime Minister has always voted in favour of HS2 whenever it has arisen in Parliament. Time will tell.

I wouldn't know how to declare something a "disaster", but I'm afraid I don't have a great deal of respect for Mr Gove.   Could it perhaps be that he (Mr Gove) was looking to put his political mark on the ministry rather than because further change was actually desirable?

But his time at the MOJ was a disaster nearly all his decisions were later reversed by Gove.

Chris Grayling is a former shadow transport minister, so comes with some knowledge of the brief.

Chris Grayling appointed new Transport Secretary under Theresa May's reshuffle.

We have an extra body at the DfT. Never come across him before.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport and Home Office

I wonder how much closer we will be to the Dawlish avoiding line by the next election...

So the SoS is confimed as staying in post. I think that's a good move as he has been a safe pair of hands, and actually seems to enjoy the job, as opposed to his predecessor, Justine Greening who rarely, if ever smiled. I think Claire Perry may well be in line to be promoted to Minister of State in place of Baroness Kramer.

I suppose the pertinent question to ask is who is there in the Conservative party who actually cares about railways? I think Claire Perry does but it would be too much to ask for her to be elevated to Secretary of State prominence.

Boris Johnson, because the segregated superhighways now being built in London are the best thing any senior British politician has ever done for cycling, and they need to be rolled out nationwide. (But I don't expect it to happen.)

I see the newly re-elected erstwhile (probably still) transport portfolio holder and local to us MP Claire Perry has already managed to get herself into trouble:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11591752/General-Election-2015-Ukip-slur-Shame-on-Tory-MP-sexist-tweet.html


I don't often find myself agreeing with columnists in the Telegraph, but I have to say I agree here that if a male candidate had tweeted about a female candidate^s ^fat arse^ it probably would've resulted in considerably more brown stuff hitting the fan...

Good for you Claire I say 

1. Who would you like to propose as ministers at the Department for Transport?

"Hallelujah. Mark Reckless out. Don't let the door hit your fat arse as you leave."
These are the words of Claire Perry, Tory MP for Devizes, upon learning of the defeat of the man who left the Conservatives for the grateful embrace of Ukip.

Nothing on there about Stephen Hammond - maybe it was just rumour?

Or confusion with his Philip namesake?

Out

[snip ...]

Stephen Hammond, rail minister

"If I were a greedy bastard, I wouldn't have done what I've done for the last seven years or what I'm about to do for the next two and a half"

I'm sure Heathrow's baggage handlers will help him lose any baggage he may have.

From the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19472688


I have to ask ... what about any baggage to do with the current franchising system which was, after all, set up by Margaret and John?

I have to ask ... what about any baggage to do with the current franchising system which was, after all, set up by Margaret and John?

Transport Secretary - Patrick McLoughlin

Patrick McLoughlin was the Tory chief whip while the party was in opposition and carried on after the 2010 general election as the government chief whip.

The former miner is the MP for Derbyshire Dales.

When the Conservatives were previously in power, he was a minister at the departments of transport, employment, trade and industry, and in the whips' office. In opposition, he became deputy chief whip in 1998.

Mr McLoughlin's mother was a factory worker and he worked as a farm labourer before following his father and grandfather into the pits.

His move to transport in the reshuffle has raised speculation the government is planning to alter its current stance opposing a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Miss Greening - a strong opponent of a new runway at Heathrow - has been replaced by former Conservative Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin after less than a year in the job and will take over the lower-profile role as International Development Secretary.

Unlike Miss Greening, Mr McLoughlin - who was a transport minister under Lady Thatcher and Sir John Major - is said to have "no baggage" over Heathrow expansion.

Interesting.  If we have to have someone who is "passing through" I'd rather have one on her way up than her way down.

It has often been said in recent years that the DfT has been used as a stop-off point for politicians on their way down the ladder. Here is an interesting blog piece that offers a rather different view - http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/287942/the-rise-of-justine-greening.thtml

It's called 'legacy politics' and since he's only looking like getting a year in office, he'll need to get on with it - as legacies go, an HSL is pretty big and shiny...

Leiden, a city of just 120,000 people, is planning to increase its 4,500 station bike parking spaces to 6,000

And indeed as I drove home on Saturday evening (the train I would have caught back from the same meeting a couple of years ago having been withdrawn by the DfT / FGW) the BBC was talking about Tom Harris being sacked which struck me as an unusually exteme wording.

The two new ministers replace Rosie Winterton and Tom Harris - who has publicly declared his disappointment at losing his rail brief. A posting on his website says the Glasgow South MP has been "sacked" as transport minister - news conveyed to him personally by the Prime Minister on Friday night. According to the website Harris said: "Obviously I'm disappointed; I really enjoyed being a minister, particularly in the Department for Transport. But I was always realistic - ministerial jobs come and go, but the role of an MP is more important than any other. And of course I will continue to support the government from the back benches."

Glasgow South MP Mr Harris was regarded highly by many in the rail industry, and there is speculation he made have paid the price for indiscreet comments on his blog, especially one about the credit crunch which hit the headlines back in June.

Speaking last month Geoff Hoon said: "Ashfield and Mansfield are the largest areas by population in the UK without a Sunday train service. A Sunday service would be a positive step for the local economy and in promoting greater use of public transport. It is vital that people make known their support. I will be doing my best to ensure local people's views are given thorough consideration by the government.

The new minister with responsibility for rail is Lord Andrew Adonis (links below.)
http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/ministers/andrewadonismp

Looking forward ... is there a new name yet in place of TH?  Perhaps the policies won't change very much, but I do look forward to a different hand at the tiller.