Minutes:
(Report by Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Policy and Performance and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Supporting Independence)
(The Chairman declared consideration of the item to be urgent so that Members could be made aware in particular of the outcomes of a meeting which had taken place at the European Commission in Brussels on 4 July 2007 involving the County Council and other key parties. Members also needed to the briefed on the actions the Council was taking and these were set out in the report for consideration and approval).
(Mrs Edith Robson, a local resident and campaigner, was present for this item. Mr Ian Nunn (Finance Director) and Mr Seth Williams were present on behalf of Eurostar)).
(1) Eurostar’s plan to end direct train services from Ashford International Station to Brussels in November 2007 was first debated by Cabinet on 16 October 2006. Since knowing of Eurostar’s intentions, the County Council had played a major role in campaigning to retain the Ashford-Brussels service and had worked with passengers, the business sector, public sector bodies, MP’s and MEP’s to question Eurostar and Government on the decision. On 6 July 2007 a petition was presented to Downing Street by local campaigner, Mrs Edith Robson, accompanied by Damien Green MP, Euro MP’s Peter Skinner and Sharon Bowles, and other passengers and rail lobby groups. The petition numbered over 15,000 signatures.
(2) Kent County Council, Ashford Borough Council and the South East England Development Agency attended a meeting at the European Commission in Brussels on 4 July 2007. This meeting brought together Eurostar, London and Continental Railways, Mrs Edith Robson, Passenger Groups, local authorities from Northern France and rail operators and infrastructure managers from the UK, France and Belgium. The aim of the meeting was to allow all parties to state to the Commission their position and explore possibilities to bring these positions together. As an outcome of this meeting, a commitment was given by all organisations present to hold further talks and there was a proposal by the Commission to host a follow up meeting in Brussels at the end of 2008 where progress could be monitored.
(3) Mrs Robson said that with Ashford being a growth area, a number of businesses had located to the area because they could readily gain access to three European Cities within two hours. Mrs Robson believed the loss of services to Brussels would have a detrimental affect on Ashford’s growth potential and lead to an increase in air travel. She said that Eurostar was strongly marketing St Pancras and Ebbsfleet but if Ashford was similarly marketed, then what she asked could it not achieve if given the same level of exposure. Mrs Robson said Ashford was being described by Eurostar as an intermediate stop, but she said on that basis, Ebbsfleet was also an intermediate stop. It was said by Eurostar that the decisions about services at Ashford were being taken on a commercial basis. However, being commercial was about making profits and profits come from passengers who had been saying what a great station Ashford was to use. Ashford was also a rail hub and was easily accessible from other areas and this contributed it to having a low carbon footprint. Eurostar had said that it believed when Ebbsfleet opened there would only be 14 passengers wishing to use the Brussels service from Ashford whereas 36 was the break-even number. Mrs Robson challenged this statistic and said she believed that with the proper marketing of Ashford the break-even figure and more could be achieved. Mrs Robson said that many people were unaware of these proposals and she posed the question why destroy something which had never been properly promoted for something which was untried. The Javelin Service was due to be introduced in 2009 and if those services had been timed to synchronise with the opening of Ebbsfleet, then said Mrs Robson she thought Ashford passengers would have been prepared to use that service. But with the Javelin not being ready until 2009 then Eurostar should retain a mix of services until that time. Mrs Robson concluded by saying that she believed Eurostar would lose the trust of its customers if it cut services from Ashford and that trust would not easily be regained.
(4) Mr Ian Nunn of Eurostar said that the company had some 12½ years experience of operating high speed passenger services and in that time had carried some 75m passengers. It had operated from the International Station at Ashford for the past 10 years and with its partner SNCF had in total some 25 years operations experience. Therefore the company was very experienced in the running of high speed train services.
(5) Mr Nunn said that at the meeting at the European Commission, Eurostar had said that the high speed model was not entirely compatible with having intermediate stops. Also whilst Eurostar had recognised the growth potential of areas such as Ashford, the company was not of itself responsible for economic regeneration. High speed domestic services would start in 2009 and Mr Nunn believed that would be the time when there would be a drive for economic regeneration both at Ebbsfleet and Ashford. However, because of its location, it was Ebbsfleet which was at the heart of Europe’s biggest area of regeneration.
(6) Eurostars figures showed that 92.4% of its travellers depart or arrive at Waterloo. Ashford customers represented 7.6% of the total Eurostar volume. The Ashford-Brussels service represented 1.4% of Eurostar volume. Eurostar’s data also showed that 86% of Ashford users were UK residents against 53% of users at Waterloo. Eurostar’s data also showed that continental and EU visitors did not want to use Ashford and in running its services, the company had to take account of where its continental travellers wished to stop. 60% of UK customers using the Ashford line lived more than 30km away and some 69% of current customers using Ashford lived nearer to Ebbsfleet. Mr Nunn said Eurostar’s figures also showed that 80% of customers using Ashford accessed the station by car and 90% had used Eurostar services only once in the last four years. Only some 2,435 people had travelled to Brussels from Ashford more than four times in the last four years and of those, 820 lived nearer to Ashford than Ebbsfleet. Eurostar also said that if it were to maintain an Ashford stop on its Brussels route in addition to a stop at Ebbsfleet, then the estimated Ashford demand post 19 November 2007 dropped from 41 to 14 passengers per train, whereas the breakeven for a Ashford stop was 36 passengers per train.
(7) Eurostar currently operated 12 services, 7 Ashford to Paris, 4 Ashford to Brussels and 1 Ashford to Disney. From the introduction of its new services on 19 November 2007 there would be 16 services per day, an increase of 33%. Of these services there would be 7 from Ebbsfleet to Paris, 5 from Ebbsfleet to Brussels, 3 from Ashford to Paris and 1 from Ashford to Disney. Eurostar would in addition be retaining the seasonal services that it currently operates. Mr Nunn said Eurostar was looking to the County Council to help market and promote Ebbsfleet and to put it on the map. Ebbsfleet International Station was a success story in the making being as it was a vital station in the middle of Europe’s biggest regeneration project.
(8) During the course of discussion, Members of Cabinet challenged Eurostar’s belief that Ebbsfleet would be easily accessible to passengers, especially those coming from the east of the County. There was already traffic congestion in the area and whilst highway infrastructure proposals, once completed, would help alleviate that, nonetheless passengers heading for Ebbsfleet would need to take into account possible traffic delays when planning their journey. It was also said that Eurostar was ignoring the passenger potential arising from the significant planned housing and business growth planned for East Kent and the coastal fringe over the next 20 to 25 years. Eurostar had said passengers wanting to go from Ashford to Brussels could change at Lille but that of itself would be a disincentive.
(9) The County Council was and would continue to give support to Eurostar and the development of Ebbsfleet. However, Eurostar should in return give its continued support to Ashford by retaining a service to Brussels. Mr Nunn said that Eurostar took seriously the views of those opposed to the timetable changes but its research showed that there was more demand for services to be concentrated on Ebbsfleet than at Ashford. Eurostar was therefore introducing its new timetable based on current data and circumstances. That timetable, said Mr Nunn, was designed to run for 2 to 3 years and he said Eurostar would continue to undertake research in order to ensure that the company continued to meet the requirements and needs of its passengers. Therefore, Mr Nunn did not rule out the possibility of some service changes in the future provided there was a demonstration of need.
(10) Mr Carter said taking away the Ashford/Brussels service was a major concern because that would have a negative impact on the efforts being made to try and bring quality investment and jobs into East Kent. He asked if it could be clearly demonstrated that 36 passengers would use an Ashford/Brussels service on a daily basis – would Eurostar retain the service? In response Mr Nunn said that it was too late to make any changes to the timetable which was to be introduced on 19 November 2007. However he reiterated that as and when demand at Ashford increased, then Eurostar would look at the provision of services. Also the company had to take into account the economic cost of stopping trains to accommodate a small number of passengers. Mr Nunn confirmed that the Government held a special share in Eurostar but it was a silent partner and could only use its share in very special circumstances.
(11) Mr King said he hoped Eurostar would consider its position with regard to reducing services through Ashford. Following the meeting at the European Commission, the County Council remained concerned about the long term future use of Ashford International Station. In 2005 the Department of Transport had said in a statement to the Public Accounts Committee that the justification for the high speed rail link was very much about the economic regeneration and the benefits that it would bring. In support of this campaign, Mr Damien Green, MP had written to Ruth Kelly emphasising the importance of Ashford being a point of access into Europe and that role would be greatly diminished by the proposed timetable changes. Mr King also said that Eurostar had challenged the County Council to give its support for Ebbsfleet. He said the County Council did support Ebbsfleet and all what Eurostar was trying to achieve. Equally though there had to be support from Eurostar for Ashford continuing as an international station and everyone involved in this matter should be looking for an opportunity to have a meeting of minds to achieve just that.
(12) Mrs Robson said that she was very disappointed that Eurostar would not agree even at this stage to retain a daily service from Ashford to Brussels. She also reiterated her point that if Ashford was seen by Eurostar as being an intermediate stop, then that was also true of Ebbsfleet.
(13) In thanking Mrs Robson and Mr Nunn for attending the meeting, Mr Carter said that notwithstanding what had been said on behalf of Eurostar the County Council would robustly continue its campaign for Ashford to continue to operate fully as an international station with the retention of a daily service to Brussels,
(14) Cabinet then :
(a) Welcomed the commitment to continued dialogue by all parties that attended the 4 July meeting in Brussels
(b) agreed to continue to work in partnership with passengers and passenger organisations, MPs, MEPs, District Councils, SEEDA, French local and regional Government, and all other relevant stakeholders to press for the retention of an appropriate service between Ashford and Brussels
(c) agreed it would continue to seek clarification from Eurostar, London and Continental Railways and the Department for Transport on the operating costs of Ashford International Station and the financial and contractual obligations of the companies involved in building and operating the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and Ashford International Station
(d) agreed to continue to support the development of international high-speed rail services in Kent in so far as they are consistent with passenger aspirations, the economic and social needs of the growth areas, their catchment areas and the principles of sustainable development.