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12.15 am
Mr. Roger Gale (North Thanet): I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Mr. Aitken) on securing the debate and on the elegant way in which he has made a case in support of Kent's capital challenge bid. I endorse his arguments utterly and whole-heartedly.
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw attention to the economic importance of Port Ramsgate to the whole of Thanet--to his constituents and mine. The Government, in their wisdom, have shown their confidence in the potential for development in east Kent, and Thanet in particular, through the granting of development status to the Isle of Thanet. That was hard won by the last Conservative council, by the then European Member of the European Parliament, Christopher Jackson, by my right hon. Friend and by me. Working with the Government, we secured the development status and the objective 2 status that the area now enjoys.
As my right hon. Friend has said, the Government have committed tens of millions of pounds to the dualling of Thanet way, taking a road that was little more than a cart track and turning it into, in effect, an extension of the M2, almost down to the sea. With Connex taking over the area's trains, we expect and look forward to better rail communications and new trains. Thanet enjoys the benefits of an airport and the port of Ramsgate in my right hon. Friend's constituency.
Although I would not wish to pretend that £30 million or thereabouts is small beer, we are in some danger of destroying the shipping for a hap'orth of tar. The Thanet way now runs down to the Prospect roundabout and the Lord of the Manor junction in my right hon. Friend's constituency has been dealt with, so it really is time to accept the fact that the jigsaw must be finished.
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My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to stress the fact that the issue has united the community of Thanet. My constituents entirely support his campaign for the completion of the last piece of the vital road. The issue has united not just the community but the political parties in an exceptional way. Politicians of all parties at every level--local councillors, county councillors, both Members of Parliament and the Member of the European Parliament--are as one in believing that the project is vital to the area and must be completed.
I could not agree more with my right hon. Friend when he stressed the importance of the events of 18 November and after relating to the channel tunnel and the French strikes that so badly affected the channel ports on the French side of the channel. The Ramsgate to Ostend service was a lifeline for the commerce of this country during that period. The fire in the tunnel demonstrated the fragility of that piece of transport infrastructure. Without the ferries, this island would be isolated. I doubt that there could have been a more graphic example of that than the events of 18 November.
Although, as my right hon. Friend has said, millions of pounds have been spent on infrastructure serving the tunnel, one piece of road has been left incomplete. The Kent capital challenge bid is essential to the future of east Kent. My right hon. Friend cited the description from the capital challenge prospectus that bids should be for projects of
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir Paul Beresford):
I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Mr. Aitken) on using this opportunity to press the case for Kent's capital challenge bid and I was not surprised that he was joined by his neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet (Mr. Gale).
This evening, Thanet has the full team out putting pressure on, as it has on many other causes. It must have had some success, because I have discovered the extent of public funding for Thanet in the past three years.
Thanet has received £12.7 million from regional selective assistance, with a further £80 million levered in. In the first EU objective 2 programme, £7.3 million was allocated to projects. A further £3.7 million is carried forward, along with the prospect of £14 million awaiting approval from the second objective 2 programme. In addition, £9 million was allocated to the regeneration of Thanet under round 1 of the single regeneration budget. The Thanet Regeneration Partnership has submitted a bid for a further £7.6 million from round 3 of the SRB. Thanet also benefits from funding under the EU Interreg Community initiative and it will be eligible for a share of the £15 million allocated to Kent under a further programme of co-operation with Nord-Pas de Calais.
The funding for Thanet is a mark of the pressure that has been applied, and I am feeling the effect of that this evening. As my right hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet knows and mentioned, earlier this year the Government announced the capital challenge scheme to
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Authorities were invited to bid for their highest capital spending priorities drawn from their overall capital expenditure plan. That invitation is along lines that a Chief Secretary would applaud and we have heard support for it this evening--or rather, this morning. The Government offices for the regions have received more than 300 bids and we estimate that about three quarters of principal authorities have bid for £1.5 billion over three years. That is two and a half times the £600 million available from the fund, but the authorities expect to lever in an additional £2.6 billion of private and public sector funding, which is what the whole system is about.
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Kent county council's capital challenge bid, "Accessing Opportunities in Kent", consists of two projects--first, the Ramsgate harbour access road and, secondly, Kent access. The case for those projects has been put clearly by my right hon. and hon. Friends this evening. The pressure applied on the case has outranked that in any other area and, if there was any doubt that my Department would not take notice of the bid, it has been dispelled.
As my right hon. and hon. Friends are aware, it is now a matter of "watch this space". We are certainly aware of the points which they have made and they have, as ever, added interest to the debate. Ministers in the Department of the Environment have been left in no doubt about the strength of the support for the bid but, as my right hon. and hon. Friends will appreciate, they must wait until the announcement of the result of the bidding process later this month.
Question put and agreed to.
"the greatest benefit to the community".
I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister can think of no greater benefit to an entire community and its economy than the Ramsgate harbour approach road proposed in the bid.
12.24 am
Adjourned accordingly at twenty-three minutes past Twelve midnight.
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