Thanet Parkway: Substantial costs remain for rail station - report

The station connects east Kent and London in 70 minutes

A council will have to pay "substantial" future costs for a £39.3m rail project which is already heavily over budget, papers reveal.

Thanet Parkway Station opened officially at the end of July, 13 years after the scheme was first conceived.

Kent County Council will likely be liable for costs associated with a range of works, including CCTV, a car park revamp and signage, documents say.

KCC said the project was for the benefit of "future communities".

The council papers also say that the scheme will address poor accessibility between east Kent and London.

But Thanet Parkway Station has already come under fire for low passenger numbers and costs which have nearly quadrupled from the original £11m estimate.

Councillor Barry Lewis, who represents Thanet on KCC, said the authority must "come clean" to taxpayers about the true price tag.

"The fact that no one seems to know or is unwilling to say how much these extra costs will be, indicates to me there is a big problem," he says.

The council has contributed more than £7m so far to the scheme, and is committed to spending over £17m, the council documents say.

'Infrastructure first'

The papers, which go before the council's scrutiny committee on Wednesday, said: "There remain substantial costs associated with this scheme that are yet to be spent which KCC will need to fund (unless further external funding sources are secured).

"Future direct KCC spend includes further archaeological evaluation work required by planning, junction retention costs, CCTV costs, Land Compensation Act costs, and other costs associated with additional signage and improvements to the car park."

Supporters of the project say in time new housing will push the passenger numbers up, and argue it was important to put transport infrastructure in place first.

A KCC spokesperson said: "Thanet Parkway is a key example of an 'infrastructure first' scheme where KCC has championed the delivery of the station and car park infrastructure to accommodate the present and future communities of the Cliffsend and Ramsgate area.

"We will continue to work with Network Rail, Southeastern and Thanet District Council to realise the potential of the station as an integrated transport hub at the heart of Thanet infrastructure."

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