Contingency planning. Never sexy, always worthwhile. In tonight’s evening standard, there’s a double page spread on future London airport capacity. Alongside the by now well known Boris island idea sit plans now developed by Sir Norman Foster for a mega transport hub at the isle of grain in north Kent. Four runways would sit on top of the UK’s newest and biggest high speed railway station with links to London, northern England and continental Europe.
This seems to me by far the most sensible plan for expanding UK airport capacity. But it was the diagram of the rail connections that was interesting. At last! These plans would give purpose to Ebbsfleet International station!
And that’s my reason for blogging. Because this project which would be jolly good news for Ebbsfleet- if it happened- would be another nail in the coffin for East Kent, and specifically Ashford International station. Ashford’s future potential is reliant on its strong situation as the gateway to continental Europe. Otherwise it is just another town with a dying high street and no significant employers, acting as a dormitory for London workers.
Ever since the building of Ebbsfleet, the Ashford service on Eurostar has appeared to be under threat.  Unless Kent County Council acts quickly and decisively to demand that Ashford as well as Ebbsfleet stops be a feature of the continental link, a highspeed hub at the isle of grain could ironically end up leaving Ashford and the rest of Kent outside medway more cut off.
So what has this to do with a cross-channel metro service? Well, I mentioned contingency planning. And if the omens with Eurostar services seem ominous, Ashford’s council needs to look seriously at how to keep Ashford viable. The obvious thing to do is to look to your neighbours. At its closest point, the French coast is just 23 miles away from the Kent coast. That’s closer than Ashford from Ebbsfleet. Lille, France’s third city is only 40-odd minutes away from Ashford, and Calais’s closer than that. A real metro, with trains frequent enough to commute on, could make a real difference. Of course early talk about this in the press described the idea as exporting France’s unemployment problems to the UK for resolution. Thanks, guys. But think, why shouldn’t Kent residents travel as easily for 40 minutes in one direction as in another? Language? Zut allors, ceci est la 21eme siecle! Needing a passport? The sea? No, the real barriers are cost, train frequency and the need for there to be jobs to go to near the stations en route. Eurotunnel has said slots can be made available. shouldn’t trans European networks funding, and regional funding be for just this type of project?
May be the final barriers are of creative entrepreneurship, bureaucracy and mindset. But I fear that we must overcome these to be ableto contingency plan…