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Mr. Stephen Timms (Newham, North-East): May I welcome unreservedly the Secretary of State's comments about Stratford international station? He has always taken a close interest in east London, and I congratulate him on his decision. Will he join me in saluting the eight-year, Newham council-led campaign for that station, supported strongly and determinedly by hon. Members on both sides of the House? Will he confirm that the station will open when the link opens in 2002? Does he agree that the implication of his comment about through services to Manchester and Birmingham not stopping at St. Pancras is that Stratford will be the hub of the national high-speed rail network?
Sir George Young: I can think of one or two other destinations that might make a similarly ambitious claim, but I pay tribute to the work of the many people who have Stratford's interests at heart. When I was at the Department of the Environment, I had frequent contact with them, and my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Urban Regeneration has been in contact with the Stratford Promoter Group and other representatives of Stratford's interests.
Enormous opportunities are available at Stratford railway lands, which will be transferred to London and Continental. With local interests, it will want to work up a development strategy for that site, so that the most can be made of it for the benefit of the Thames gateway region.
Stratford provides an important interchange. It will be on the Jubilee line extension and it is already on the Central line, the docklands light railway and British Rail lines both east and west. I am sure that people who represent Stratford's interests will seize the opportunities that my announcement has made available to them.
Mr. James Couchman (Gillingham):
I join other hon. Members in congratulating my right hon. Friend on his statement, and echo, as Kent's representative on the Standing Committee, the hope that it will not take 320 hours and 71 sittings to complete its work.
More seriously, I welcome my right hon. Friend's statement on domestic services. He will know that my constituency at the eastern end of the Thames gateway is served by the North Kent line, which is perhaps one of British Rail's less glorious and glamorous lines. What impact may his announcement have on the franchise that is to be granted for the operation of domestic trains through Kent on the north Kent line? Might it affect the amount of time given on that franchise, which some of us had hoped would include a commitment to some new rolling stock for that line, as some of the rolling stock on the Kent coast line is still the worst anywhere on the rail network?
Sir George Young:
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I welcome his diligence as a member of the Standing Committee. As a result of the announcement, people in Kent who are within reach of Ashford and Ebbsfleet will be able to use the CTRL to gain speedy access to St. Pancras. Having travelled recently on the North Kent line, I recognise that there is scope for improvement.
The franchising director will be letting a contract soon, and there are options for companies bidding for the franchise to include the option of new rolling stock. The franchising director has made it clear that he will consider a longer franchise in return for investment in new rolling stock.
I have made it clear that domestic services will run on the CTRL. The rolling stock will have to be compatible with rolling stock on the CTRL and be capable of going fast. When the franchise is let, I imagine that the franchising director will include, among the passenger service requirements, an obligation to run a certain number of domestic services on the new CTRL, when it is built.
Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West):
It was music to my ears to hear that Stratford in my constituency will be the site of the international station. I remind the House that, not that long ago, British Rail was talking about an approach through south-east London, going straight to King's Cross. Now we have an easterly approach with an international station at Stratford. It is excellent news.I welcome it, and I thank the Secretary of State--all those visits to the east end have clearly paid off.
Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to the Stratford Promoter Group, which was a public and private sector organisation, and to hon. Members on both
sides, especially the hon. Member for Reading, West(Sir A. Durant), who gave such great support to Stratford in the early days?
Although the tunnel will go immediately under my house in Forest Gate, I cannot wait to sit in my front room and hear the rumble of the trains on their way to Stratford.
Sir George Young:
Hon. Members clearly get their pleasures in a variety of different ways. I am conscious that, in the 13 years we have been in the House together, I have said much from the Dispatch Box that has caused the hon. Gentleman great distress. I am glad that, at long last, I have managed to say something from the Dispatch Box that has given him some pleasure. I hope that he agrees that it was worth waiting for.
I pay tribute, of course, to the work of the Stratford Promoter Group and other organisations that have campaigned tirelessly for Stratford to be a domestic and international station, and whose work has now borne fruit.
Sir John Stanley (Tonbridge and Malling):
As my right hon. Friend said that the construction risks would be borne by London and Continental, can he confirm that that means that 100 per cent. of all overrun finance--the excess of actual costs over estimated costs--will be borne by London and Continental, and that the company will be placed under a clear contractual obligation to complete the project to specification, regardless of outturn costs?
If that is the case, as I anticipate, does my right hon. Friend agree that the way he has found of financing the project is infinitely better than the way proposed by the Opposition, which would have left the taxpayer with a wholly open-ended liability to complete the project?
Sir George Young:
My right hon. Friend is right.The risks have been transferred from the taxpayer to the contractor, as my right hon. Friend has just described. Some of the key advantages of the private finance initiative are the risk transfer, the protection of the taxpayers' interests, and the incentive for the contractor to get on with the job and complete it on time, rather than looking to the taxpayer and the public sector to bail him out if things go wrong.
Ms Margaret Hodge (Barking):
Will the Secretary of State confirm that London and Continental will be responsible for administering the discretionary purchase scheme for people whose properties have been blighted? Who will take the financial responsibility if that scheme is extended as a result of the Standing Committee proceedings?
Will the Secretary of State also confirm exactly what risks, both financial and non-financial, the Government will continue to bear? What sanctions will be placed on London and Continental, not just to finish the project within cost but to finish it within time? What controls does he propose to ensure that freight is carried underground, certainly through my constituency, rather than overground?
Sir George Young:
On the first point, the development agreement requires London and Continental to continue the Union Railways voluntary purchase scheme until
Mr. Jacques Arnold (Gravesham):
Does my right hon. Friend agree that, if the House had listened to the proposals by the Labour and Liberal Democrat spokesmen that we should go ahead in 1989, at a cost of almost£1 billion, the environment of Kent would have been ridden roughshod over, there would not have been resources for the compensatory buy-outs, and, worse than that, Ebbsfleet and Stratford would not have been developed along the route?
Does my right hon. Friend recognise that Ebbsfleet is vital to the regeneration of the Thames gateway, and that it means thousands of new jobs and far better transport connections for my constituents? Can he confirm that London and Continental will pick up all the environmental undertakings that have been given so far by Union Railways?
Sir George Young:
The answer to the last part of my hon. Friend's question is yes. On the first part, I am slightly surprised to hear myself constantly being urged to have gone ahead with the 1989 proposals, which, as my hon. Friend said, were of a much lower environmental standard and would have forgone the regeneration benefits, to which I am sure the House attaches considerable importance. A quarter of the CTRL will be in a tunnel. The Select Committee has made a number of recommendations to enhance noise mitigation and environmental protection. The 1989 proposals were in all those respects significantly inferior to the one that I have just announced.
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