Monday 23 November 2009

The transport summit at Westminster successfully raised the profile of our enough is enough campaign, the problems of Operation Stack and limited connections from Kent to the rest of the UK. Kent Police, Shadow Secretary of State Theresa Villiers and Labour and Conservative Kent MPs were among those who attended and spoke.

The event attracted more than 50 delegates from government, the public sectors in Kent, industry leaders, transport operators and locally affected businesses. It was clear from the turn out and the powerful arguments raised that we must continue to press for solutions to Kent's transport challenges. The consensus was that there must be a way forward to charge foreign lorries for using UK roads, raising some £50-60million a year to pay for improved infrastructure provision which should be spent in areas of the country most severely affected, ie Kent!

We will be using the event to continue to press our case with government for solutions to Operation Stack and improved transport connections with the rest of the UK. More information about Kent County Council's "Enough is Enough" transport campaign can be found on our Enough is Enough page.

I do wish that talk of Boris Johnson's Thames Estuary Airport would disappear. The plan has not been included in any transport plans and recently Boris said he had no appetite to build it. But last week I was again speaking on the BBC after a leaked email suggested that Boris believed the airport could potentially be one of his greatest achievements.

I have said it before and I will say it again, it's a crazy idea and cannot be allowed to happen. If you have not yet signed the petition against ther airport please do so on the Stop the Estuary Airport website.

I have also had further meetings with Home Office minister Phil Woolas on the continuing saga of asylum funding. I was most encouraged by the body language and Phil's willingness to engage with us on this. We must get a resolution over all of the outstanding funds as soon as possible, especially given the financial pressures on local government.

On that note I am a total supporter of Total Place, a pilot programme in Kent looking at how we can get out of our public sector silos and work differently and more effectively with our partners. The aim is to avoid duplicating public services, make them more effective and efficient and built around our customers. An example could be adult social care provided by KCC and geriatric care in the health service.

Tell Paul your views