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Website updated: 09/05/2008 Leaders Blog Updated 09/05/2008

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Dr Mike Eddy’s Blog

Welcome to my Blog. I want to keep you updated on what’s happening here at County Hall and across the County. I also want to hear what you think about entries in my blog and about Kent County Council; if you want to comment click on the ‘talking head’ and let me have your views.

Older entries are available in the archived section in the drop down menu; please feel free to comment on these too.

9th May 2008

Straight from the horse's mouth You'll probably have seen coverage in the local media about five designs shortlisted for the 'Angel of the South' landmark at Ebbsfleet.

The £2 million landmark - which is intended to symbolise the regeneration of Kent Thameside and the expansion of London eastwards - will be located on a site next to the A2, looking over Ebbsfleet valley and marking the new Ebbsfleet International station.

At about 50 metres (or 164 feet) high, the landmark will be visible to travellers by road, rail and air, and will also be accessible on foot.

The final choice of design will be made by a committee chaired by the Lord Lieutenant of Kent. However, KCC's current Conservative Leader Paul Carter is trying to stick his oar in. Kent's traditional emblem is a rearing, or prancing, white horse. Naturally the same horse is used as an emblem by the County Council.

You can imagine how delighted Paul Carter was when he found out that a 33-times-life size white horse was one of the designs put forward for the Ebbsfleet landmark. A press release was issued earlier this morning in which Carter gushed:

"The prancing White Horse is a powerful symbol which is recognised worldwide and rooted in the County's history. Wherever I go, people know that it represents all that Kent stands for. I can't think of a better symbol to go up at Ebbsfleet - it's got the wow factor".

Now, I like the White Horse design too, but for reasons I'm about to make clear, I can't help thinking that Carter's getting carried away by delusions of grandeur. Never mind the fact that it's the emblem of Kent - how wonderful it would be to have the prancing horse of KCC dominating the north Kent skyline!

Except that those of us who have actually looked at the shortlisted designs (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7387938.stm or http://www.ebbsfleetlandmark.com/) know that Mark Wallinger's White Horse isn't prancing at all. It has its feet firmly on the ground.

Which is more than one can say about the man who brought us Cartervision - sorry, Kent TV. And with this latest gaffe (as with the launch of Kent TV), Paul Carter's shown us once again that there's none so blind as those that won't see.


	8th May 2008 Is Boris Good Enough? Cripes! Crikey! Boris Johnson, Mayor of London! Bolly and oysters all round for Old Etonians. And a long wait for the super Routemasters that Boris thinks will be better than the new bendy-buses, and a long wait at rush hour to get through the airport-style security gates at some Tube stations. And a brand new airport off the mouth of the Medway. Those are his policies. Or rather, I think those are his policies. If they are, life has just got a lot worse, not just for Londoners but for Kent.

	1st May 2008 Crossed Wires on Thames Crossing The latest edition of Around Kent, Kent County Council's "free" newspaper (yearly subscription: via your council tax), carried the burden of a piece by Paul Carter, the Conservative Leader of the Council, on page 2 which reads: "KCC has had success in persuading the Government to fund a feasibility study for a third Thames crossing to link Kent and Essex -see page 3." Dutifully turning to page 3, the box down the side of the page tells us: "Kent County Council is to carry out a feasibility study into a third Thames crossing with its Essex counterparts ... And following their announcement on the move, the Department for Transport has appointed consultants to look at options too". Today's Members' Bulletin from the Environment and Regeneration Directorate says: "Following the announcement by the Department for Transport that it was to start its study into the short and long term capacity issues of the Dartford Crossing, we (KCC) have decided to scale back the joint KCC/Essex study so that it can inform the one being carried out by DfT". If KCC did persuade Government to fund a feasibility study, why did KCC say that it was going to do its own? And how has Government managed to appoint consultants so much more quickly than KCC? Perhaps we could also be told who the consultants are that are doing the scaled back KCC/Essex study. I wonder if those consultants have been told that their work has been scaled back. And will their fees be scaled back too? The spin machine's spun so much it seems to have got dizzy.