The UK has a new blood sport: baiting Members of Parliament. It turns out, though, that MPs may not be a complete waste of taxpayers' money. The inhabitants of Wareham, for example, may or may not approve of the spending habits of Annette Brooke, the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid-Dorset and North Poole – the £238.78 she was asked to repay because it was "claimed on the wrong form" hardly puts her in the duck pond league – but they should warm to her action in getting the House of Commons to debate their local railway station.
On 28 October, Brooke set up an adjournment debate – "simply a way of having a general debate without requiring the House to vote," says Parliament's web site – on Wareham Railway Station. In particular, she was exercised by the "proposed closure of the Wareham station pedestrian level crossing". Ms Brooke feared that shutting the level crossing risked creating "a barrier that could split the town in two".
The half-hour debate attracted just one other speaker, Chris Mole MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport. The debate, or lack of it, isn't really the issue, although they may disagree in Wareham. It is the window that it opens on how MPs cover transport issues, especially those with a local dimension - the sorts of thing that don't make it into major debates on transport policy.
To get an idea of the topics that come up, connect to Parliament's feed on transport news.
http://news.parliament.uk/subject/transport/feed
On the day that Wareham's level crossing came up, there were also debates on transport in Pudsey, Dartford crossing congestion and the Swindon to Kemble railway. The last of these, a more contentious issue than Wareham's woes, albeit another with essentially local implications, was about the need to upgrade about 12.5 miles of single line.
Following the links around Parliament's web site brings you to specialist pages on Railways, Aviation, Road (with Buses, Cycling and Motorcycles as subcategories), and Shipping.
http://www.parliament.uk/topics/transport.htm
Followers of transport policy might find it valuable to browse the documents on these pages. For example, the House of Commons Library issued a Standard Note on "how the UK's railways are regulated by the Office of Rail Regulation" while another dealt with "the safety framework for railways in the UK".
Earlier this year the library also issued a Research Paper of around 70 pages on "Expansion of Heathrow Airport". This document, it tells us, "gives an overview of both the transport and environmental policy background in which this decision has been taken; the planning aspects of the proposal; its anticipated environmental impacts; and relevant statistical issues". While it is unlikely to contain anything that you will not find elsewhere, it helps to know what MPs have been reading between filling in their expenses and voting on the issues that the document covers.
Lest anyone think that this attention to minor issues is a waste of Parliament's time, the case of Wareham's level crossing proves otherwise. It may have been a complete coincidence, but just days after Ms Brooke stood up to talk, Network Rail said that it would chip in part of the cost of building a "user-friendly and convenient" footbridge to replace one of the most dangerous level crossings in the South West.
The announcement does not reveal the cost of the plan. But it is a fair bet that it will be a lot more than even the most expensive duck house.
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=4770&NewsAreaID=2
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