HC Deb 02 February 1995 vol 253 cc857-8W
Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he(a) reached and (b) announced the decision to site the international station at Ebbsfleet in Kent.

Mr. Watts

My right hon. Friend announced the Government's decision on 31 August, shortly after the choice was finally settled.

Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on which occasions his Department had meetings's attended by or arranged with(a) Mr. Oliver Colville, (b) Decision Makers and (c) Blue Circle in connection with the channel tunnel link and the location of the international .station.

Mr. Watts

The Department has had no meeting with Mr. Colville. Miss Maureen Tomison of Decision Makers was present on one occasion, when the Ebbsfleet promoter group made a presentation to my predecessor. The delegation was led by the hon. Members for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) and for Dartford (Mr. Dunn); representatives of Dartford borough council, Blue Circle, Union Railways and departmental officials were also present. The Department has had numerous meetings on this subject with Blue Circle.

Mr. Mackinlay

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if the channel tunnel route announced in October 1991 was compatible with the location of the international station at Ebbsfleet, Kent;

(2) what were the factors that led to the revision in 1993 of the final line of the route for the channel tunnel link as announced by his predecessor in October 1991; and what consideration underlay the alterations to the location and line of the link at its crossing of the River Thames.

Mr. Watts

[holding answer 1 February 1995]: The route corridor announced in October 1991 offered the opportunity for a station at several locations in north Kent, although not at Ebbsfleet. In his statement of 22 March 1993—announcing that the channel tunnel rail link would run along the Ebbsfleet valley then tunnel under the Thames, to run alongside the London Tilbury and Southend line from north of Purfleet to Barking—the then Secretary of State for Transport made it clear that this route overcame a number of engineering and environmental difficulties associated with the route published in 1991.