News

The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser.

28 May 2009

After all the flack that’s been flying around the House of Commons over the expenses scandal it was quite a relief to get away from Westminster and spend some time in the constituency last weekend where the atmosphere was less tense and the news was decidedly better.

With the County and Euro elections coming up next week I’ve been out and about with my local Labour team tramping the streets knocking on doors. On Saturday we had one of our regular street stalls which gave passers-by a chance to stop and chat about any subject under the sun. Quite a lot wanted to know more about the row over expenses but people were mostly understanding and they were sympathetic to MPs like me who had been tarred with the same brush as those colleagues, in all three Parties who have been improperly milking the system.

On Bank Holiday Monday I interrupted my canvassing routine to visit the Fowlmead Country Park at Betteshanger where I had the honour of officially launching Deal’s new designation as a “Walkers are Welcome” town and presenting the organisers with their certificate.

The status signifies that Deal has made itself welcoming to visitors and in particular to people who enjoy walking and a lot of work has gone into making Deal a walker friendly place. There are only 21 such towns in Britain and Deal is the very first ‘Walkers are Welcome’ towns in the South of England – so well done Deal.

There was more good news to celebrate on Tuesday when Dover was able to welcome the arrival of the biggest and fastest high speed ferry ever to join our cross channel services – it sails under the red ensign and it will create a total of 160 new jobs, 80 ashore and another 80 afloat so it’s good news all round.

LD Lines’ newly built ‘Norman Arrow’ is the world’s largest diesel propelled catamaran and it has the advantage of being able to carry fright as well as coaches, caravans, tourist cars and foot passengers so it should have the versatility to be remain viable amid the changing cycles of the market.

It’s good to hear that many of the seafaring jobs – officers and ratings – are going to former Speedferries employees and there are even more jobs in the offing because LD Lines are already considering further investment in Dover. They are looking at another 112 metre fast ferry of identical build and design to ‘Norman Arrow’ and there’s the prospect of bringing in even bigger catamarans in the coming years.

Having spent the last 30 years in Dover and 12 years of those years sailing on our cross channel ferries I’ve seen lots of changes. Companies have come and gone, mergers have taken place and the market has waxed and waned but there’s the possibility that the arrival of LD Lines with their ambitious expansion plans could have more impact on our traditional ferry services than all the other changes put together.