This train isn’t stopping

You hear it time and again: “The problem with UK regeneration is that we don’t invest in infrastructure at the start.”

But that’s not true with the Thames Gateway. I remember standing, more than six years ago, in a chalk pit where Ebbsfleet station now stands, connected by a high-speed train service to London and Paris. Earlier this year, I watched as the first people came off the preview service that links London St Pancras to Kent. Commuters were pouring off the train from Ashford with their journey times slashed in half to 40 minutes. The service launches in earnest next month.

Clearly, the market downturn has brought great challenges to the project, and the regeneration of Ebbsfleet is currently stalled, but the long-term strategy for the Gateway is robust. We have to work with partners to maintain momentum and plan for the upturn.

When that comes, I believe this part of Kent will benefit. If you draw a circle through the area 40 minutes around central London it is easy to see the impact of such proximity on a place. Brighton is by anyone’s reckoning a successful town, and part of its success lies in the fact that it’s commutable from London and you can travel there for leisure.

There will be clear drivers for development when the regular high-speed services run to Ashford and beyond. And those commuters who move to Ashford or – in time – to Ebbsfleet will start to create local employment, meaning more people will wish to live and work locally.

Infrastructure investment is happening in our existing town centres. As I write, work is going on in Chatham; and we are planning for investment in other centres such as Dartford.

In the six months between April and September this year, we invested about £17m in North Kent alone and have seen about 420 affordable homes completed and 260 started on site. That’s compared with 2008’s figures of £6m for 120 homes for rent and 132 homes for low-cost ownership. The housing market and prices are stabilising in Kent Thameside, but we recognise there is much to be done. We are also working with major developers, councils and development agencies to plan and restructure funding for highways investment around Ebbsfleet valley.

I believe that the continued public sector commitment to the Thames Gateway, and to infrastructure as part of this, is critical to the success in the area. In challenging times we are maintaining that commitment.