IT’S summer recess and, with some big issues still on the agenda, there has been no time for a break.

This week I had a one-on-one meeting with Scotland Office Minister Iain Stewart to discuss LNER’s new timetable plans, which will badly affect Dunbar services.

I also met with LNER and TransPennine Express, along with parliamentary colleagues from north and south of the Border. There has also been positive engagement through an East Lothian cross-party group which met with representatives of RAGES, who have worked hard for the new station at Reston and the proposed East Linton station.

The proposed LNER timetable change, which is now open to consultation, is meant to increase high-speed connectivity to London. But the result locally is negative, impacting on commuters who use LNER services and on CrossCountry trains from Dunbar.

Popular LNER services from Dunbar to Edinburgh at 9.55am and the southbound service from Edinburgh to Dunbar at 5.54pm would go under the proposed new timetable, which is planned to come into effect next May.

In effect, Dunbar station will lose 11 of its 32 services. And the new station at Reston, which is due to open in December this year at a cost of £20 million, will have only four services per day and there will be cuts to services from Berwick-upon-Tweed.

This is a recipe for lost connectivity and competitiveness and I have stressed this to ministers, who will be reviewing LNER’s plans.

High-speed services on the East Coast Mainline are welcome but, until the line is upgraded, these should only go ahead if there is capacity for local rail services too.

You can make your voice heard. I have set up a page at www.craighoy.co.uk/rail consultation with details about how to respond to the official consultations.