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HOWARD'S WAY.... a weekly column from Michael Howard MP

19 October 2006

 

Last Thursday I attended a meeting with Eurostar to discuss their proposals to reduce their services to Paris and discontinue their services to Brussels from Ashford International station. 

The meeting was also attended by Damian Green, the Member of Parliament for Ashford, the Leaders of Shepway and Ashford Councils, the deputy leader of Kent County Council and the Chief Executive of the South East Economic Development Agency. 

Eurostar justifies its proposals by the opening of the new station at Ebbsfleet. They have conducted a survey which claims to show that most passengers to Brussels who currently use Ashford International would prefer to use Ebbsfleet when it opens. 

I have for some time been asking to see the survey so that it could be analysed in order to test whether Eurostar’s assumptions are indeed justified. At the meeting Eurostar agreed to make this material available. 

We also had a more general discussion in which questions were raised as to whether sufficient account has been taken of the future growth of Ashford and Shepway and the effect of the proposals as the development of the economy of East Kent as a whole. 

Eurostar undertook to reflect on these points and a further meeting is to be held in a month’s time. 

Last week also saw the publication of the Government’s assessment of the performance of NHS Trusts. It did not make good reading either nationally or locally. 

The quality of service offered by the East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust is assessed as only fair and its use of resources assessed as weak. 

After all the assurances I have repeatedly been given about the improving performance of the Trust this was especially disappointing. But perhaps you will not be totally surprised!