§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Clelland.]
10.34 pm§ Mr. Gwyn Prosser (Dover)I am grateful for the opportunity to make my maiden speech in this Adjournment debate on the subject of my choice—a matter essential to the past, present and future well-being of my constituency. Although more than half of my constituency can be described as rural, the majority of jobs are either related to the port or town-based, and the very existence of the port and the town relies on Dover's transport links—road and rail links to other parts of Kent and to London, the cross-channel links to France and Belgium, and deep-sea shipping links to other parts of Europe and to the worldwide shipping lanes.
Early in my Merchant Navy career, I developed the British seafarer's natural affection for the sight of the white cliffs of Dover—it was our first sniff of Europe, our first view of Britain and our first sight of home. However, over the past 18 years, living in Dover and Deal and bringing up my family in Dover, I have been able to enjoy the much wider attractions of the area. These include the greenery of the north downs which lie above the white cliffs, the splendid views from Dover castle, the enchanting seaside town of Deal and, of course, the warmth and steadfast character of the people who populate my very special and very beautiful constituency—the constituency that we like to call the white cliffs country.
Those people's jobs and their futures are closely related to the sustained success of our cross-channel ferries, our sea-cats and our hovercraft, and the continued development of the public trust port of Dover, which has served one of the busiest and most strategic sea crossings in the world for more than a century. Dover has long been privileged to act as the gateway to Europe: we are pleased to serve in that role, which provides us with direct jobs on cross-channel ferries, jobs in the port of Dover and jobs in port-related service industries. However, we are also charged with serving as gatekeepers, which brings duties and responsibilities that on occasion tax our resources, impact negatively on our communities and strain our inadequate transport links.
In the short time since the new Labour Government came to power, we have suffered the criminal activities of bootleggers, the influx of hundreds of mostly bogus asylum seekers and the crippling disruption caused by the recent French lorry drivers' dispute. For many years, we have had to witness the carriage of live animals for export: we have seen the cruelty that it inflicts, and we look forward to the day when this evil trade will cease. Just over the horizon, we are bracing ourselves for major job losses with the P and 0 and Stena line proposals to cut their fleet in a merged operation. We face the threat of further massive redundancies if our on-board duty-free sales are abolished.
Of course, I make no connection between the election of the new Government and Dover's difficulties—on the contrary, Ministers have listened to our concerns and, where possible, acted promptly to ease our problems. However, problems in our transport links have remained unaddressed for many years. The link that has caused 818 most of our distress has been the fixed link—the channel tunnel—not only because it was allowed to be built without a public inquiry, but because of the uneven way in which the previous Government supported the tunnel in relation to the cross-channel fleet and the port of Dover.
Nothing highlights the uneven approach of the Conservative Government more than the comparison between the tunnel, which was provided with a four-lane motorway connection right up to the terminal entrance before the tunnel was operational, and the port, which, after 20 years of all-party campaigning, still relies on the inadequate A2 single carriageway at its eastern approach.
I acknowledge that, after the tunnel was operational, the A20 was extended into Dover, but that was one of the tunnel-related roads, to give east Kent access to the tunnel, and its configuration means that drivers travelling from London to east Kent are exposed to 70 miles of channel tunnel signage and are then invited to leave the motorway for the Eurotunnel terminal 10 miles before they reach the port of Dover.
Dualling of the last seven miles of the A2 from Lydden to Dover is well overdue. It will make an important contribution to the economic development of the area by easing traffic flows to the port and to the towns of Dover and Deal, opening up better access to the White Cliffs business park and supporting improved road links to the proposed new industrial development at the redundant Ministry of Defence site at Old Park barracks, in addition to greatly improving safety on a piece of road that has an unacceptably high accident rate.
I am aware that the project is now being considered as part of the roads review, but I urge Ministers to take account of the fact that this short stretch of inadequate road is an essential link to the port of Dover, which is diversifying and expanding to meet the challenge of the channel tunnel, and it is crucial to the successful development of our job creation projects.
At this stage, it may be appropriate to give some recognition to the efforts of my predecessor, Mr. David Shaw, the work that he put into campaigning for the dualling of the A2, and the careful attention that he gave to his constituents in casework. He took a robust and combative stance in the Chamber on many issues—as you may well remember, Mr. Deputy Speaker—but I felt that he had gone a little too far when, only four months after the general election, he returned to Dover with a camera crew and accused the new Labour Government of failing to dual the A2.
Before Mr. Shaw, there was Mr. Peter Rees, who, in the few contacts that I had with him, always acted in a gentlemanly and helpful manner; before him was the late David Ennals, who enjoyed a distinguished career in the House before being elevated to another place, where he continued to work hard promoting overseas aid and fostering international relationships.
All three of my predecessors pressed hard for better road links, but Dover also suffers from inadequate rail links. As the Government consider their existing plans to develop an integrated transport system, I am sure that Ministers will wish to take account of the need to encourage investment in the rail links to ports such as Dover, where relatively small amounts of funding can open up new modes of rail transport and enhance the potential of our train service facilities. 819 A truly integrated transport system will need to link road and rail networks to international shipping routes as well as the short sea routes to continental Europe. With such links in mind, it troubles me to hear that, at a time when the Government are seeking to shift freight from road to rail, Railtrack appears to be selling off its freight yards, such as Town Yard at Dover's Western Docks terminal.
Dover has survived many difficulties in the past 15 years. First, we had to put up with the disruption caused by the construction phase of the channel tunnel and its road connections. In the little village estate of Aycliffe, thousands of tonnes of countryside were gouged out behind Shakespeare cliff, and 71 homes were demolished for road building.
Secondly, in a premature response to the impact of the tunnel, P and 0 European Ferries forced staff cuts in 1988 which resulted in a bitter 12–month dispute and the sacking of more than 1,000 local seafarers who were fighting to maintain safe manning levels on the vessels. Many of those sacked are still unemployed, and the P and 0 Sacked Seafarers Committee is still campaigning for justice and compensation for those local people.
Thirdly, at Christmas 1993, as the single market came into being, we lost 600 jobs in one weekend when the roles of the freight forwarders and the frontier brokers ended. Just last month, ex-miners in the village of Aylesham gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of the closure of their pit and the complete shut-down of the east Kent coalfield. Overall, some 2,000 jobs have been squeezed out of our ferry and port-related industry in an effort to compete with the tunnel. People are rightly angry that a bankrupt channel tunnel with £ 8 billion of debt, which was heavily favoured by the previous Government, should be allowed to continue to steal traffic from the highly successful surface fleet, and further to threaten the jobs of local people.
Dover has suffered in the past and survived, and we are fighting back again now. In the village of Aylesham—where male unemployment reached 25 per cent.—the local people, supported by public and private partnerships, have opened a complex of workshops, training areas and community facilities to create jobs and breathe new hope into the village and the surrounding areas. The Labour district council has won single regeneration budget funding for a £17 million project to regenerate the east Kent coalfield and create more than 500 new jobs.
The barracks, vacated when the Royal Marines school of music in Deal was shut down, will hopefully soon be developed to create jobs and provide educational and community facilities. However, we shall need help from Kent county council with improving the A258 and providing better access. Similarly, the St Radigund's industrial estate will be sustained and enhanced if improved access can be provided at the notorious Coombe Valley road railway bridge.
The port of Dover is now safe from privatisation. I thank the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms Walley) for their visits to Dover and their robust support for our campaign to stop the privatisation of the port in 1996. Now that the threat has passed, the harbour board is planning an ambitious expansion of the already successful cruise terminal. I am pleased to say that it is determined to retain the train ferry services to take advantage of Labour's new transport initiatives.
820 Dover has other ambitious plans too numerous to cover in this short debate, but the key to them all is the provision of improved road links, the maintenance and upgrading of our existing rail links, and even-handed support for our highly successful surface fleet as it adapts to meet the changes and the challenges posed by the channel tunnel.
§ Dr. Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet)I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Mr. Prosser) and to the Minister for allowing me to make a brief contribution to the debate.
My hon. Friend's maiden speech was excellent, and I enjoyed it very much. I wish to associate myself with all his comments, and I add an extra plea to the Minister—I do not expect her to respond to it tonight. Will the Government give sympathetic consideration to the need to improve the road that links my hon. Friend's Dover constituency with the neighbouring constituency of South Thanet?
I have referred to the A256 before in the House. The road link is crucial to the economic future of Thanet and supports the largest employer in our region, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The improvement of that road is absolutely vital not only to that company but to my whole constituency and to the ferry industry in Ramsgate, which is a close neighbour of Dover.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Ms Glenda Jackson)I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Mr. Prosser) on his maiden speech. It is regrettable that so few hon. Members were in the House to hear him give a speech that showed not only his intimate knowledge of his constituency and his constituents, but his dedication to them and their interests. He displayed his generosity by allowing my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman) an intervention in his debate.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Dover for giving us an opportunity to debate such an important topic. In 1996, the port of Dover accounted for 36 per cent. of the United Kingdom's international passenger traffic and 12 per cent. of the UK's international unitised freight.
Dover is the largest trust port in the UK in terms of turnover—£43 million in 1996, an increase of 8 per cent. on 1995. The harbour board has been investing substantial sums in the port, where there has recently been important expansion in the cruise liner business.
Clearly, Dover has a major role in the United Kingdom's links not only with continental Europe but with the rest of the world. That highlights the fact that good transport links are vital to this country's continued economic success. The best use of the existing transport infrastructure will be made to ensure that the economic importance of Dover is maintained and enhanced in a sustainable way.
I well understand my hon. Friend's desire for early decisions on the road schemes that he and my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet mentioned, particularly the dualling of the A2 from Lydden to Dover. As my hon. Friend the Member for Dover will be aware, that scheme 821 is currently being considered as part of our roads review. He will also know that the Government have embarked on a fundamental review of transport policy. Our objectives are a strong economy, a sustainable environment and an inclusive society. Transport is a vital part of all those aims.
Good communications are central to the economy and our quality of life. However, the backdrop to the fundamental review is a candid recognition that we need a shift in direction. Revised national road traffic forecasts published last month show traffic increasing by almost 40 per cent. over the next 20 years. If current policies continue, congestion will get worse, the impact on the environment will be even more severe, and those who have no access to private transport will find it even more difficult to get around.
We must develop an integrated transport system that makes the best use of the contribution that each mode can make; ensures that all options are considered on a basis that is fair and is seen to be fair; and takes into account from the outset considerations of accessibility, integration, safety, the environment and the economy. Above all, an integrated transport system must be sustainable. One of the encouraging aspects of such an ambitious task is the degree of consensus attaching to the view that we need to change.
It is a feature of the policy development work now under way that we are involving a wide range of external advice and expertise, including local authorities, businesses, trade unions, transport professionals and transport users. That is the context for the roads review examining the role that trunk roads should play in an integrated and sustainable transport policy.
Against the background of increased congestion, we have three broad options for roads: first, to make better use of existing infrastructure; secondly, to manage demand; and thirdly, to provide new infrastructure.
To make best use of existing infrastructure is the obvious first choice. It has been provided at substantial cost in financial and environmental terms, and we must make the best use of that investment. We must, however, be realistic about what the various options can deliver.
We must also seriously consider other, harder options—managing demand and providing new infrastructure. Managing demand is a vast topic. It encompasses reducing the need to travel —by land use planning, for example—an assessment of the extent to which a shift to other modes can be encouraged, and inevitably, the question of controlling demand by pricing or rationing mechanisms.
Providing new infrastructure is a very difficult option, financially and in terms of its potential impact on the environment. Our starting point is that we will not proceed with major new road construction unless we are satisfied that there is no better alternative. Even then, there will be difficult choices to be made within the limited resources available.
There is no substitute for rigorous case-by-case examination of the options. Volume 2 of our roads review consultation document entitled "What role for trunk roads?" sets out, region by region, the perceived traffic problems and the roads programme inherited from our predecessors.
822 We are seeking from those regional consultations a view on whether those are the most important problems, or whether other problems deserve greater priority. We envisage two outputs from this part of the review: a firm, short-term investment programme, and a programme of studies to examine the remaining problems, out of which the medium and long-term investment programme will emerge.
The Government office for the south-east has held three day-long seminars over the autumn as part of our consultation process on integrated transport. A seminar in Ashford on 14 October examined transport corridors in the east of the region, including the Kent transport corridor between the M25 and the channel ports. Points made by my hon. Friend about the importance of the A2 Lydden-Dover improvement, in terms of safety, regeneration and support of the local economy were also made at the seminar. There was a clear consensus on the importance, regionally and nationally, of high-quality reliable routes, both road and rail, to the south-east ports. Some problems were highlighted as requiring particularly urgent solutions. We shall be taking all these views into account, along with the written and other representations that we have had.
Developing a forward-looking integrated transport policy that supports a strong economy, contributes to a sustainable environment and helps to create a just and inclusive society, is a huge challenge. The road network is, of course, only one piece of the transport jigsaw. My hon. Friend has spoken of the way in which the port of Dover is responding to the challenge of the channel tunnel. The tunnel has added to the importance of south-east Kent as a transport hub, and the building of the channel tunnel rail link will increase this still further. As well as allowing a doubling of the number of trains between London, Paris and Brussels at peak times, development of the channel tunnel rail link, which the Government are keen to see delivered as quickly as possible, will provide additional capacity for new and much faster commuter trains between Kent and London.
The Government are determined to encourage greater use of the railways for passengers and freight. We wish to see improvements in existing rail services. My right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport recently gave the franchising director new objectives, setting out the development of the passenger rail network of the future and mapping out the key role that we envisage for railways in our integrated transport policy. Connex South Eastern, which operates rail services to Dover, is required by its franchise agreement to replace all its existing mark 1 slam-door rolling stock.
I understand that it is its intention that the brand new 375 class rolling stock will be deployed on the route to Dover via Sevenoaks-Ashford by the end of 1999. Railtrack, in partnership with Connex South Eastern, is also in the process of carrying out major improvements to Dover Priory station to enhance the service that is provided to passengers. I shall write to my hon. Friend about the proposed sale of rail lands.
The Government are keen to encourage an increase in the use of rail freight, thus delivering important environmental benefits by taking lorries off our roads. Rail freight grants are available to help meet the extra costs generally associated with moving freight by rail. 823 My hon. Friend raised the question of the recent French lorry drivers' dispute. The Government deeply regretted the disruption caused by the blockade in France. We are pleased that the dispute has now been settled and that our hauliers are again able to go about their legitimate business.
We acknowledge that the ferries had the option of sailing to alternative ports in Belgium, whereas the channel tunnel is a fixed link, but we made it clear that we sought unrestricted access through this principal entry point to mainland Europe.
My hon. Friend raised a number of issues that are of particular concern to Dover and to his constituents, though not all are within my direct responsibility. The proposed merger between P and O and Stena Line is a matter, as I am sure my hon. Friend is aware, for my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade.
My hon. Friend mentioned also a topic that is of concern in Dover and, I would say, throughout the country—the export of live animals. I understand that it would not be possible for the Government to take unilateral action to ban live exports but we await with great interest the outcome of the Compassion in World Fanning case. The Government have already taken significant steps to improve the welfare of animals during 824 transport, and we are committed to making further progress.
The abolition of duty free sales for intra-EU journeys is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I regret that my hon. Friend has heard me reiterate a point that I made to him when he came to see me with a deputation of other colleagues who are also concerned about the issue.
My hon. Friend also touched on the recent influx of asylum seekers arriving at Dover, which now appears to have abated owing to the measures that the Government have taken—including television broadcasts in the Czech Republic—to correct misleading impressions about our immigration procedures. However, we continue to monitor the situation carefully.
Again, I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing Dover's transport links to the attention of the House. I am sure that he will appreciate that, until we have completed our fundamental review of transport policy and the role of trunk roads within that policy, I cannot tell him what priority the schemes he advocates can expect to be given, but I can assure him that the Government are fully aware of the important—indeed, unique— role that Dover plays in Britain's transport network.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly at Eleven o'clock.