 |
Sir Bob RussellMember of Parliament for Colchester since 1997 |
 |
Sir Bob attacks the rail service experienced by Colchester
July 4, 2012 4:59 PM
THE FOLLOWING IS HOW HANSARD THIS MORNING REPORTED MY SPEECH IN YESTERDAY'S DEBATE ON RAILWAY PROPOSALS FOR EAST ANGLIA.
Sir Bob Russell MP in The House
11.42 am
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD): I declare an interest because (waving rail ticket) of my rail ticket from Colchester to London. I believe that Colchester is the sixth busiest commuter station in the home counties, so I have more than a passing interest in the matter. I think my constituents who are commuters would say that at the moment they are not receiving value for money.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) on securing the debate, and on all her hard work. I endorse every word that my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), said, with her pan-Essex approach to the driving force of the economy in the east of England.
I would like the Minister fully to appreciate how unanimous MPs from the east of England are. I stress that because a lot of hard work has been done. When the journey started, not everyone was on board, and I plead guilty to being one of those who kicked up a fuss. One of the weaknesses and strengths of the new Anglia local enterprise partnership is that it is concentrated on Suffolk and Norfolk. It does an excellent job, but in my opinion the initial prospectus was silent on Essex. Others disagreed, and thought that the silence was covered, but I did not think it was. The prospectus now is fully focused on the whole of the great eastern main line from Norwich to London through the three counties. The guarantee in the prospectus is that there will be no reduction in the frequency of inter-city trains stopping at Colchester. I leave other MPs with stations in their constituencies to make their case.
There is a feeling in north Essex, of which Colchester is the obvious capital, that we are a neglected part of the county, because we are not in the new Anglia LEP. We are in the same LEP as Kent and East Sussex. In north Essex, we barely acknowledge Southend, let alone Kent and the outer reaches of Brighton. It is a credit to those who drew up the final prospectus that they widened their horizons beyond Suffolk and Norfolk, and recognised that we are all in this together-to coin a phrase. I regard myself as East Anglian before Essex, being only 5 miles from the Suffolk border. I urge the Minister to appreciate that, as we heard from previous speakers, we are East Anglia-orientated, not south Essex and not London. We are East Anglian in culture. I am delighted that the new Anglia LEP is adopting us, because we will get a better deal from the new LEP than we got from whatever the name is of the one we are in. We are a neglected corner.
I appreciate that others want to speak, so I shall be brief. I endorse the three previous speakers, but I want to put on the record that the guarantee in the prospectus of no reduction in the frequency of inter-city trains is important. We all have wish lists, and I also want to put on the record my four domestic wishes. I would very much like a direct service from Colchester to Cambridge via Ipswich; we must acknowledge that Cambridge is the central place in the six counties of east England. I would very much like a Sudbury to Colchester Town direct service. I do not have five or nine stations in my tight, urban constituency, but I have three stations. I would also like direct services from Colchester Town to London. That is not impossible, and additional capacity and the speeding up of services that others have mentioned is necessary. Finally, we are approaching the summer season, and I would like, if possible, Sunday services to the Essex coast from Colchester Town and my third station, Colchester Hythe.
I thank everyone involved in the issue and, to emphasise the point for the Minister, I repeat that this is the unanimous voice of East Anglia.