Speeches by Glover.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. Our concern about the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees and Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025 is that the criteria that would be used for deploying the proposed powers is somewhat vague and too broad. It would be useful to hear more clarity from th…”

“My hon. Friend is right. Buildings need to be staffed, otherwise we will end up like the episode of “Yes Minister” with an empty building. Key infrastructure needs and asks for my constituency include the Didcot-Culham relief road, with better walking and cycling provision than in the current plan. It is a controversia…”

“House building is essential to provide the homes that people need, but there are significant problems with our current approach to planning, and it is therefore welcome that the Government are giving time and attention to those topics. My constituency and the areas surrounding it have seen 35% population growth in 20 y…”

“A key frustration for many is communication and notification of street works. That applies to road users, pavement users and bus customers. How can such communication be improved?”

“The new Labour Government have an aspiration to develop an integrated transport strategy. In that context, can you explain the role both community transport and demand-responsive transport can potentially play as first-mile and last-mile solutions?”

“It is truly a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck. I join colleagues in commending my hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing time to discuss this vital issue, which I feel is a symptom of a wider malaise in our planning system, as I shall explain. First, regrettably,…”

“Do you have anything to add?”

“My next question is linked to that. Do you sometimes find that where there are boundaries between local authorities, and a lot of the funding is very much done along local authority lines, there are issues with co-ordinating transport options across those local authority boundaries?”

“My Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage is quite geographically diverse. It has large towns, which tend to have a pretty good bus service, and villages with a few buses a day; but a couple of villages only have one bus a week. Using that as an example, what gaps in connectivity do you feel community transport…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I start by thanking all the participants in this interesting and wide-ranging debate, and the hon. Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) in particular for his comprehensive and very thoughtful introduction. He rightly reminded us that this matter is of gr…”

“I thank the right hon. Member for his intervention and commend him for his commitment to improving skills training when in Government, which he discussed in his speech. I think the challenge of how we get there is significant, and I will come on to discuss that in my concluding remarks. In my constituency there are exa…”

“Sticking with the reinstatement theme, you may be aware that in Scotland the period for the guarantee of that reinstatement is six years, compared with two years in England. Would you support implementing that six-year guarantee period in England?”

“You have anticipated my next question. The Chair will love you.”

“I want to follow up on something Emma said. You made a very good point that sometimes this challenge of co-ordination we have been discussing can mean that multiple routes are blocked off at the same time. Keith mentioned Oxfordshire, my constituency. That can be an issue in Didcot, which infuriates people from time to…”

“Mr Sommer and Mr Whittaker, do you agree with that?”

“I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for his outstanding and comprehensive speech. Many people have died in this war so far, and United Nations figures suggest that at least 12,654 civilians have lost their lives and over 27,000 have been injured, with nearly 1…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his answer. As he says, there are 7,000 staff working here who support 650 Members of this House and 836 in the other place. As he recognises, it is essential that the needs, wisdom and experience of the people who make the estate a success are heard and fully considered. Will he commit to c…”

“12. What steps the client board is taking to engage with parliamentary staff on the restoration of the Palace of Westminster.”

“Very briefly, because I am very conscious of time, as you say, Chair. We touched a little bit on the increase of the bus fare cap from £2 to £3. Professor Lucas, you were very clear that you thought that was a negative policy change. Do other members of the panel have any thoughts as to the impact of the increase in th…”

“You have already touched on some of what I am going to ask you, so feel free to expand on what you have already said. What do you feel are the main factors discouraging people from using bus services? Cost presumably is a factor, as is reliability and route coverage. Do you think there are other significant challenges …”