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Too many eggs in tourist basket

Consultants say "High Speed" rail links will make this area less remote - but do commuters or holiday lets do more damage to the community? What do you think?

Three local councils - East Sussex, Hastings and Rother - have asked consultants to put together the economic case for extending the High Speed rail services between London St Pancras and Ashford onwards with through services to Rye, Hastings and Bexhill - cutting journey times from Rye to London to 55 minutes.

The consultants argue this will bring new business, as well as more visitors, to an area which is, by most definitions, elderly, poor and too dependent on visitors - or on the "better off" pensioners. But the figures for new jobs and economic growth, even over a 10 year period, seem comparatively small.

On the other hand more, better paid people might live here if the train services were faster. It could also be argued that the range of shops and other facilities might improve if there was a better balance between "haves" and "have-nots". But it could also be argued that the school age population is clearly increasing - so the area is becoming "less elderly" anyway. But is it getting "better off"?

Thanet on the other hand (which now has late night trains from London) appears to be recovering from a long downward spiral since the '60s (when I worked on the Kent Messenger) with the provision of faster, through services from St Pancras and Ashford to Ramsgate. Deal and Sandwich appear on the surface to be younger, livelier and more prosperous than Rye - or indeed Hastings or Bexhill.

We may, however, have a long time to debate these issues. Proposals to redevelop St Pancras and Kings Cross stations and the surrounding area first surfaced in the mid 80s when I first moved into that area (on former railway land) - and it is only now, 30 years on, that my former home is in the shadow of office blocks being built. The High Speed extension may take as long as Heathrow's extra runway.

It is arguable that commuters may push up house prices (but they are already too high for many, and there is a shortage of affordable housing). It is also arguable that commuting can leave a town empty during the week - but holiday lets and a dependence on visitors can have the same effect outside "the season". So there will certainly be strong views both "for" and "against" the proposed service.

Rye News welcomes opinions and comments, whether or not we agree with them, but reserves the right to exclude any on legal grounds.

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