Kent County Council voted unanimously in support of the Liberal Democrat motion [see below] today. The motion was proposed by Ian Chittenden and seconded by Ida Lindfield, It was then accepted, without amendment, by the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Conservative Group.
Now the KCC officers need a constructive negotiation with the bus operators. Then we will need agreement at February's budget meeting. So there is still some way to go but it's a good step forward.
At tomorrow's County Council meeting Liberal Democrat, Ian Chittenden, will ask Kent County Council to consider allowing disabled persons and their companions to use their bus passes at all times. Currently they cannot be used in Kent before 9:30am.
Being disabled should not stop someone from going to work or getting to a medical appointment or doing so many things which most of us take for granted. But it does.
Despite repeated requests, the Department for Transport continues to refuse to confirm that Thameslink services will be running from Bearsted, Maidstone and West Malling to Central London by the end of December.
"Further delays to the introduction of this long-overdue service would be totally unacceptable", says Rob Bird, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group at County Hall. "Local rail users, residents and businesses are fed up with the continued uncertainty."
Today the KM published an abridged version of Rob Bird's letter regarding the refusal of Conservative Ministers and MPs to come clean about the future of Maidstone's Thameslink Service. Here is the letter in full.
Time for Transport Minister to come clean about Maidstone's Thameslink service
The Thameslink service is expected to provide Bearsted, Maidstone East and West Malling with trains to Central London and Cambridge every ½ hour throughout the day. Crucially, Maidstone passengers were told they would get to Central London in less than an hour. Last October Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Transport wrote to me confirming that this long overdue service would be running from Maidstone by December 2019.
Antony Hook Liberal Democrat MEP for South East England and European Affairs Spokesperson at Kent County Council visited the UK Eurotunnel site on 19th August to speak with senior staff about the on-going Brexit preparations.
During the visit, Mr Hook was told how Eurotunnel have been forced to spend €15 million building new infrastructure to carry out extra customs checks.
Following the Government's announcement this morning of the Retail Price Index (RPI) figure for July, it is expected that rail fares will rise by another 2.8% in January.
New 16-17 Saver Card will provide ½ price rail travel for 16 and 17 year-olds.
Kent's rail users have expressed dismay and frustration at the prospect of another 2.8% increase in rail fares in January. Rail campaigners have long argued that rail fair increases should be linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is the Government's official measure of inflation. CPI is consistently lower than inflation. The latest figure for CPI was down at 2.1%
According to a recent report a disorderly Brexit has been given the highest possible risk rating by Kent County Council. It is the biggest single risk currently being addressed by the Council. Disruption is expected to last for at least 6 months and probably more following a no deal Brexit, with 'significant long-term detrimental impact for Kent residents'.
