Latest news with #OllyGlover
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
South Western Railway: First nationalised train is bus service
Amongst collectors of memorabilia there is one specialised field - train their current prize is a rare one: An example of the ticket for the first train to run on South Western Railway (SWR) after re-nationalisation this there is a problem - engineering becomes Great British Railways on Sunday at 01:59 BST precisely. The next scheduled service would normally be the 02:27 from Guildford to Waterloo, but that's been next is the 05:36 from Woking - and tickets are on sale for £15:20. But this is also affected by the bank holiday not the best start - the first nationalised train is a bus replacement service. Not that you would have guessed all that from the launch of the new Great British Railways logo by the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in Bournemouth this was a slick and impressive affair. And Labour MPs like Portsmouth's Amanda Martin are looking forward to public ownership."My granddad was a train driver," she tells me. "I'm really proud of what we're intending to do."But will fares be lower? Perhaps not straight away. But she says things will improve."It will take time but now we will be able to look at increasing our passenger services. Make the passengers feel better on the trains from planning the journey to finding your tickets and if you're delayed, they'll be an instant repayment."Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot and Wantage Olly Glover is on Parliament's transport committee and says nationalisation has potential, but will require vision and leadership."What the industry needs is for the government to be really clear on what they want them to deliver in terms of wider economic and social and environmental policies."They need to provide that clarity in multi-year funding and let the industry get on with delivering that. They need to take a step back from the detail and my worry is that this will encourage them to get more involved. " Former Conservative MP Chris Loder used to work for South West Trains and says they should be not be ashamed of the time they held the franchise."We saw passenger numbers double over the period of privatisation until just before Covid. We saw huge levels of investment that we haven't seen before."But now he's calling for more competition even within the nationalised framework, using Open Access Train Operators, competing on the same line with the government-owned operator."We're in a different era. Passenger behaviour has changed and therefore that means that different structural changes are required."Open access operators should be allowed to run across the network. That of course is not the current Labour policy."Even supporters of nationalisation admit it will take time before the effects are maybe it won't be long before passengers don't have to check before travelling, that their train has been replaced by a bus, or they need a small mortgage to buy the ticket. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Call for councillors to keep planning powers
An Oxfordshire MP has called for local councillors to retain their control over planning, as the government proposes major reforms. Olly Glover, the Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot & Wantage, said councillors played a "key role" in the planning process and should keep their current positions. The government has said it wants to ensure "councillors can focus on the biggest developments in their area". A working paper sets out three options for a "national scheme of delegation", which would see more applications dealt with by unelected planning officers. Giving a speech on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in parliament, Mr Glover said councillors in his constituency had secured positive amendments to plans. He said when the application for more than 4,000 homes at Valley Park in Didcot came to a planning committee, officers recommended it was approved. But councillors said there was not enough provision for healthcare and there was a lack of cycling and walking infrastructure. He said: "Due to elected representatives making speeches during the meeting, outlining the issues, the planning decision was deferred for a couple of months and those things were able to be added in. "Keeping that local link and making sure that local people are brought into the planning process, and it's done with rather than done to, continues to be very important. "And councillors play a key role in that and that is why they should retain their current positions and influence on planning committees." The government wants to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 and is introducing legislation to change the planning process. It said it wanted to "modernise" how councillor-run planning committees work, ensuring they focus on "key applications for larger developments". A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said: "The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will improve local decision-making by ensuring councillors can focus on the biggest developments in their area, and democratic, local engagement with how homes are built will continue to be supported. "This will speed up decisions and ensure they are being taken at the right level so we can get Britain building again." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. No excuses not to build 1.5m new homes, Rayner says Planning reforms will end development chaos, says Rayner Ministers want planning reform to boost building Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Oxfordshire MP says councillors should retain planning powers
An Oxfordshire MP has called for local councillors to retain their control over planning, as the government proposes major Glover, the Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot & Wantage, said councillors played a "key role" in the planning process and should keep their current government has said it wants to ensure "councillors can focus on the biggest developments in their area".A working paper sets out three options for a "national scheme of delegation", which would see more applications dealt with by unelected planning officers. Giving a speech on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in parliament, Mr Glover said councillors in his constituency had secured positive amendments to said when the application for more than 4,000 homes at Valley Park in Didcot came to a planning committee, officers recommended it was councillors said there was not enough provision for healthcare and there was a lack of cycling and walking said: "Due to elected representatives making speeches during the meeting, outlining the issues, the planning decision was deferred for a couple of months and those things were able to be added in."Keeping that local link and making sure that local people are brought into the planning process, and it's done with rather than done to, continues to be very important."And councillors play a key role in that and that is why they should retain their current positions and influence on planning committees." The government wants to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 and is introducing legislation to change the planning said it wanted to "modernise" how councillor-run planning committees work, ensuring they focus on "key applications for larger developments".A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said: "The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will improve local decision-making by ensuring councillors can focus on the biggest developments in their area, and democratic, local engagement with how homes are built will continue to be supported. "This will speed up decisions and ensure they are being taken at the right level so we can get Britain building again." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pavement parking ban 'essential' to child safety
An Oxfordshire MP has said tackling pavement parking is "essential" to improving safety on the school run. Olly Glover, the Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot & Wantage, called for action during a debate he held in Westminster on encouraging more children to walk and cycle to school. Pavement parking is illegal in London, but in the rest of England the Highway Code only advises against the practice. A transport minister said the government intended to publish a formal response to a consultation on pavement parking and would set out "next steps" in "due course". Mr Glover said figures from the UK National Travel Survey showed that the percentage of children walking or cycling to school had declined from 67% in 1975/76 to 47% in 2023. He said he wanted active travel on the school run to be "normal" rather than the "eccentric exception" and called for better infrastructure, more cycle training for young people and a ban on pavement parking. "We can empower young people to walk, wheel or cycle to school by providing them with the confidence to do it, in the form of Bikeability, and putting in measures to keep them safe such as those around pavement parking and infrastructure and street design improvements," he said. A consultation on banning pavement parking for the whole of England was held by the government in 2020 but no announcement has yet been made. Lilian Greenwood, the Minister for the Future of Roads, said during the debate the government would be publishing a formal response and next steps in "due course". She added: "Active Travel England is funding a wide range of support to enable more children to walk, wheel and cycle to school. "We have announced a further £300m for active travel and will set out plans for future years following the Spending Review." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Calls to ban pavement parking across England Pavement parking could be banned in England More than 8,000 fines in pavement parking crackdown Bikeability cycle training Active Travel England
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Drivers who got licence 'decades ago' could be forced to sit TWO new tests
The UK could face new rules to deal with a gap in safety requirements for drivers. Olly Glover, Liberal Democrats MP for Didcot and Wantage, spoke to GB News about how the Labour Party government could introduce rules to crack down on poor road behaviour and boost road safety. He told GB News: "You pass your driving test and if you don't screw up too much, it could be decades before you have any form of assessment, so that's a key issue. Whereas with train drivers, they're regulated, they have assessments all the time, they're briefed in a forensic structure." There have been growing calls for motorists to face cognitive tests or eyesight checks. The MP continued, saying: "I think that is so important, and communication is really important in different ways. READ MORE: Drivers over age 65 urged to place item in car or be 'forced off road' READ MORE: DVLA letters dropping onto doormats after driving rule change READ MORE 11 counties in England set for 'two inches' of snow after UK 23C mini-heatwave "You can come up with the best policy or the best rules, or guidance, but if you're not effective in telling people or talking about it, people won't know. Getting those public campaigners is crucial and we need to think really hard about communication, otherwise people won't know that anything has changed." Speaking prevoiously, The Transport Secretary has promised new fines to force utility companies to fix roads more quickly after digging them up. Writing in The Telegraph, Heidi Alexander said the Government will 'put strong penalties in place for utility companies that dig up roads without a permit or run well over time'. Under the Government's new proposals, laws will be amended to impose the same fines for weekends and bank holidays. 'I know this has been the scourge of drivers up and down the country, including me,' the Transport Secretary wrote. The MP added: 'So we will impose fines and ensure that poor quality repairs that tear up roads are no longer tolerated.' The Government's crackdown on over-running works comes amid The Telegraph's nationwide Fix Our Potholes campaign. Ms Alexander confirmed that as well as expanding the fines policy, more councils will have the power to impose restrictions on utility companies
