People are being forced to sell their homes because of slashed train services.
This is according to Sir John Stanley (Con), MP for Tonbridge and Malling who forced a half-hour Parliamentary debate on the state the train services from Maidstone to London on Wednesday morning.
Sir John, one of the key figures in the unsuccessful campaign to save a service from Maidstone East to Cannon Street, used the debate to criticise the decision to axe services to the City as part of a timetable shakeup by Southeastern trains at the end of last year.
He said: “The decision to axe these crucial rail services is thoroughly bad and thoroughly irresponsible. Frankly, it also makes complete nonsense of the Government’s housing and planning policies for the whole of the Maidstone, Malling and mid-Kent area.”
Before the debate, Sir John, who wants to see rail services to Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge reinstated, asked constituents to share their experiences of prolonged journey times.
He quoted several of the responses, including one from constituent Jamie Gardiner.
Sir John said: “(He) wrote to me, saying, “My quality of life has been reduced to the point that we are now selling our house in King’s Hill’. So the Minister’s decision is leading directly to people being forced to sell up their homes.”
The Government decision not to step in and subsidise Southeastern trains to allow the service to continue was defended by Chris Mole MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport.
He said: “It has been suggested that withdrawing the services might adversely affect the local economy. We have not seen evidence that there will be any detriment to the local economy as a direct result of the services being withdrawn. I reiterate that independent market research confirmed that withdrawing the services would be the correct decision because there is insufficient demand to make their continuation cost-effective.”