My Lords, my name is attached to Amendment 470 in this group, and it is a particular pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, on this. I would like to say a few words about the question of footpath access that he addressed initially. It seems to me—and it was amply spoken to by the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham—that this is part of the essential infrastructure that enables people to have what used to be, and I hope still is, known as multi-modal travel opportunities. In other words, one has at least some sort of menu of options, and one is not just obliged to be in a motor vehicle. This goes to the heart of what we do about making sure that developments are both related to existing settlements, where these facilities are available, and do not become detached from that unless there is some particular reason—and then only when this infrastructure is put in. So I am very much in favour of that.
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On the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, about access for people with mobility difficulties, yes, I know all about that. My local railway station is associated with a very large school complex, and there is not much in the way of housing there, although there is a retirement development, surprisingly—otherwise, you might say it was in the middle of nowhere. Those who want to get to London who are not good at navigating stairs have to get on the coast-bound train—in other words, the train going in the opposite direction—and change at the next station down, where there is at-grade access. They must come off on the coast-bound platform, wheel themselves if there are in a wheelchair, or cross using a walking frame or whatever else, over the level crossing when the train has stopped straddling the level crossing—which is what the train often does because the platform is too short—and then they go round to the other platform. There is of course a bridge, but of course that is another lot of steps. Thankfully, the train schedule is so organised that people do not have to wait two trains hence in order to catch the one back up to London, which is where they first wanted to get to. So I am familiar with this.
On the issue of railways, there has been a great move in my part of West Sussex to try to close off footpaths that cross over railways at what are called unguarded crossing points, because there have been one of two very serious and tragic accidents involving those. Of course, it is a bit difficult, because where do you reroute the path to in order to make it convenient? At one stage, when I was chairman of the Rights of Way Review Committee—a collective of non-governmental and voluntary organisations of one sort or another—I rather blotted my copybook because I tried to get across the message that we must not be fossilised in our views about the rights of way system; we have to make a transition towards something that is fit for purpose today. I ran into issues with people who thought that legacy rights of way must be retained at all costs. I think they were disturbed to find that I was not entirely at one with them on that, in the sense that I felt that, if some that were not that important could be given up, there would be a better chance of getting ones that were needed and accorded with modern practice. When we are talking about users of these things, let us not forget that it is not just cyclists and walkers but people with children in buggies who need to get to and fro—in particular on what I would call the fringes of development areas. It is vital that there is access to open countryside, and if we do not have this network then it does not work.
However, I digress, because the amendment to which I added my name is to do with charging points. I am not an expert on this and I do not have an electric vehicle, but I have tenants who, every now and again, ask about electric vehicles. One of the chief problems is that a fast charger—I do not know if it is “fast” or “rapid”, but it is one of them at any rate—requires a three-phase electricity feed. I do not have that and, indeed, I am at the limit of what can be drawn off a pole transformer that is on the property. When I asked about bringing three-phase in, the chap from UK Power Networks or whatever it was said he did not even want to tell me what it would cost. He said it was absolutely eyewatering and he did not tell me what it would cost, but I imagine it was several tens of thousands of pounds just to bring in a third cable overhead and provide a new network.
The noble Baroness raised a more acute point to do with the overall capacity. There is a lot of demand queuing up for this because, if we are talking about electric vehicles that is one thing, but if we are decarbonising people’s heating in their homes that is another thing altogether. I remember, not so long ago, quizzing the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, about what this meant in terms of the additional demand on the grid—it was pretty substantial. We are not anywhere near that, either in the generating capacity or the distribution system on the network.
So we are a tad behind the curve, and the only way that I can see to deal with that is having a much more comprehensive approach. That is due to be, or has been, discussed in the context of the Bill, which looks at decentralised generation of one sort or another, so that we can somehow get more capacity back into the system. This is a great problem because, if you want to charge your car in 40 minutes, for example, that requires a lot of power going into the charging unit. If you just
want to do it overnight, via a 13-amp extension lead from your living room, that is another matter altogether. So I appreciate that getting this right and getting more granular, in the terms of the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, is vital, or else we will lose sight of this and try to cater to one thing when, in fact, there is a basket of other things. So I am very supportive of this.
The only amendment I have not spoken to is that of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, who is right: where there are 20 mph limits, the traffic often does flow more quickly. On the other hand, there are areas with 30 mph limits that should probably be retained, unless you get complete gridlock; one thinks of arterial routes into towns. But that is possibly a debate for another day, and I doubt that the noble Baroness would necessarily agree with my analysis.