New £40m train station in Tory stronghold is only missing one thing - passengers
It a bank of ticket machines, two 820ft long platforms and parking for nearly 300 cars.
The only things missing from this shiny new £40million railway station are the passengers. Thanet Parkway, built with public money in a Conservative stronghold in Kent, was launched to a glittering fanfare six months ago.
However, after paying a visit at rush hour, it was immediately obvious why some call this yet another Tory rail fail. At 7am barely 10 people boarded the 70-minute high-speed train to London St Pancras, barely making a dent in the 680 seats on board.
The next train – the 7.16am to Charing Cross – was even less popular. A rail worker was the only customer. Things got little better after that. Despite being the start of a busy working week there was barely a commuter in sight.
The station attracts fewer than 300 passengers a day (Matt Bristow | www.mattbristow.net)Official figures show the station, which cost almost four times its estimate, attracts fewer than 300 passengers a day. Some locals are baffled at why it exists at all. Steven Smith, 51, told us: “I think it’s a white elephant, it’s been built in the wrong place and it’s not very well used.”
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The area already had better rail connections than most of the country, with over 40 direct trains to London a day from Ramsgate just four minutes up the line. Five miles away in the busy seaside town of Broadstairs – which also has dozens of direct, fast trains to London daily – there was little enthusiasm too.
Alison Robins, 39, said: “It’s out of the way, it’s not convenient for anybody, there’s no public services to get to it and you have to pay for parking. It wasn’t necessary, there are stations at Ramsgate and Broadstairs. It was a lot of money that could have been better spent.”
Some local councillors questioned the need for it before it was built using cash from the Government and local councils. Barry Lewis, a Labour county councillor, said: “Thanet Parkway was built on a lie that it would bring prosperity to Thanet. It hasn’t.
“People are voting with their feet and not using it.”
Plans for the station were in the pipeline since 2012. The Conservatives then saw it as part of their levelling-up agenda because deprivation, crime and unemployment in the area are all statistically higher than average.
And there are hopes it will serve 9,000 new homes planned within a three-mile radius. Some were to be built on the site of the former Manston Airport – but there has since been a U-turn over its closure and the old RAF Battle of Britain base is now set to become a cargo airport.
Thanet Parkway was opened in a glitzy ceremony in September by Transport Minister Huw Merriman who boasted it was “the latest example of the Government’s commitment to making rail journeys across the UK more accessible”.
The move was welcomed by the local MP, Craig McKinlay, an accountant and former UKIP member. Latest figures show an average of 261 people entering and exiting daily – compared to 131 during its first fortnight. And there were 8,115 journeys to and from the station in December – far fewer than the 96,430 for Ramsgate in that time.
The station offers parking for 293 cars but we counted fewer than two dozen parked vehicles during our Monday morning visit. Earlier this year, the introductory free parking scheme was replaced with a £5.10 daily charge.
With no bus links and located off the busy A299, concern has been raised this will hurt passenger numbers even more. Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP told us: “It’s vital that projects like this deliver value for money for local residents. Too often this Conservative government has allowed the costs of infrastructure to spiral out of control.
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“This is a bitter pill to swallow for the public after years of soaring bills and unfair tax hikes.”
Cecilia saw few passengers get onboard early in the morning (Matt Bristow | www.mattbristow.net)Defending the station last year, Mr Merriman said: “The idea is that once the house-building that this station enables, once the new jobs and the business park here expands, then of course more people [will] use it. Buffers
“But, of course, unless you put the infrastructure in place first of all, you won’t get all of those economic opportunities.”
Thanet Parkway is the latest in a series of instances of the Tories hitting the buffers on rail policy. Last October a massive outcry forced an embarrassing U-turn over plans to shut manned ticket offices.
In the same month, PM Rishi Sunak announced HS2 would go no further north than the West Midlands. Last night the Department for Transport insisted the new station would soon be fully on track.
A spokesman said: “The Government is getting on with our plan to invest in local transport across the country, including brand new stations such as Thanet Parkway. We have already seen a good uptake in passengers using the station and expect this to continue to grow over the coming months.
“It will boost the local economy by better connecting people to employment, education and business opportunities while allowing passengers to benefit from new high-speed services into London as well as leisure and tourism attractions across Kent.”
Kent County Council, which injected £5.8m, said: “We have always been clear that the station is an investment for the future, delivering on KCC’s key ambition to provide infrastructure before development. We look forward to welcoming new and existing passengers in the future.”
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