The woman who has led the campaign to bring Eurostar service back to Ashford says she is appalled that plans for a public art landmark at Ebbsfleet are going ahead while passengers face huge disruptions due to the Channel Tunnel fire.

The selection panel for the Ebbsfleet Landmark project this week selected three proposals from Mark Wallinger, Daniel Buren and Richard Deacon respectively, for "further development" for the scheme, dubbed the Angel of the South.

It is due to meet again in January to review their work.

But campaigner Edith Robson, who lives in Ashford, said: “Is that not ill-timed, thoughtless and heartless?”

Mrs Robson, a former teacher, is a regular traveller on Eurostar as her husband works in Brussels.

She fought to try and save the Ashford to Brussels service, gathering signatures on a petition and the backing of local politicians, including Ashford MP Damian Green.

But Eurostar went ahead and axed the service when the new Ebbsfleet terminal opened in north Kent late last year.

In August, it was announced the Ashford to Brussels service would be reinstated in December - but the Channel tunnel fire has resulted in that being delayed.

The new Eurostar timetable makes it even more difficult to get from Ashford to Brussels as there is no longer an Ashford train which stops in Lille, where previously passengers could change and take a train to Brussels.

Mrs Robson said: “This means six months of impossible journeys.”