Charlie Elphicke

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Transport

The Dover & Deal economy is all about transport. We have the busiest port in Western Europe, bringing thousands of lorries to our area. So why are the roads so inadequate? Why has the Government not done anything about the dreadful Operation Stack? Why did the current Labour MP raise the deathtrap A258 in Parliament back in 1997 and then fail to get action? And why was the desperately needed A2 dualling axed from the roads programme?

Local Conservatives are getting action:

The A258 is to be improved by Conservative controlled Kent County Council.
Local Conservartives are pressing for lorry parks in place of Operation Stack and held a transport day which was attended by Shadow Shipping Minister Julian Brazier MP and Shadow Roads Minister Robert Goodwill MP to talk through how it could all be done
Local Conservatives have a plan to free up the centre of Dover from lorries when the Western Docks are built.
Only the Conservatives are ever likely to get the A2 dualled. The current Labour MP has tried, but his Government never seem to listen to anything he has to say.

Only a Conservative Government is likely to end the years of underinvestment in our community. That's why we need change.

3 comments

Deal has a very poor transport, we need better roads and better train services. Only then will our economy prosper, its not rocket science!
- Sam Malloy

Good news about the A258, but you are missing the most important issue for Deal for over two decades - the high speed trains. Without them the town will dwindle away as people move to economic hotspots like Folkestone and Ashford.
- John

In the light of recent events in the ferry industry locally, and considering the damage it will do to the area, I am opposed to the Western Docks development. It will take away another vast area of the harbour, ruining the view from the western end of the promenade and closing the Prince of Wales Pier. It will also mean the loss of the few remaining relics of the Pier District: the former Lord Warden Hotel; the Cinque Ports Arms public house and the former Harbour Station, and also block access to the Admiralty Pier and Shakespeare Beach. If there really is still a need for more ferry traffic over the next decade, why can some of it not be diverted to Ramsgate, where the port and the infrastructure needs little improvement to handle more of the load?
- Bill Beer

With the busiest port in Western Europe, an airport down the road and some major road connections, we should have it all. But we need proper investment to make it all work. That's why I want to end the years of transport investment neglect - so we can all be better off.