BASINGSTOKE MP Maria Miller has promised to champion more investment for rail services between Basingstoke and London.

Mrs Miller will be holding a transport summit with public transport providers including South West Trains, First Great Western and Stagecoach as well as Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council on Friday.

The summit is in response to the submission of the borough council’s draft Local Plan which sets out where and when new homes will be built across the borough over the next 15 years.

And the Basingstoke MP has targeted public transport as an issue that needs to be addressed due to the “growth” that is set to be seen across the borough.

Mrs Miller told The Gazette: “I think Basingstoke, for centuries, has been a brilliant place and a successful community because of its transport links and we have got to make sure that transport is there in the future for the 21st and 22nd century. Our Local Plan will mean even more growth in the future.

“Keeping Basingstoke moving is incredibly important. In the first instance, there will be a particular focus on the importance of a big, new vision for rail. It is really about the mainline between Basingstoke and London and the capacity on that. Increasing the capacity is a huge task that has to go hand-in-hand with the new Local Plan.”

She added: “I do think that rail travel is going to increase significantly. We have got to make sure that plans are in place to increase capacity as soon as we are able to.

“Congestion at peak times is extremely difficult and it makes travelling extremely difficult and we have to make sure we have got a solution for that in place.”

As well as improvements to rail journeys from Basingstoke, Mrs Miller has welcomed Government investment that has been awarded for major improvement works to the Black Dam roundabout and part-dualling of the A340 between Basingstoke and Tadley.

She said: “We have clearly had a big win on investment in roads, something which I have campaigned for (over) 10 years to say we have got to have road congestion in Basingstoke addressed before the new Local Plan is put in place so £35million of Government investment in pinch point funding for roundabouts is a step in the right direction.”