Now county hall is considering yet more lorry parks
Kent County Council is investigating the possibility of a string of overnight lorry parks to help curb the rising number of HGVs parked in laybys and residential side streets, it has emerged.
County transport chiefs have commissioned consultants – for a second time – to reassess three to five as yet unidentified sites in Kent to supplement the large Operation Stack park planned for a site at Stanford, off the M20 near Folkestone.
Cllr Matthew Balfour (Con), KCC cabinet member for transport, said there were several “hot-spots” where the problem was more marked but that the council would not be subsidising any park.
He said: “We have commissioned consultants AECOM to revisit the site selection work that they did for us on potential sites. By early November they will produce a commercial viability assessment for a short-list of three to five sites in the north -west of the county.
“This is the part of the county that will not benefit from the provision of 500 overnight lorry parking spaces at the Stanford West lorry area near junction 11 of the M20 being delivered by Highways England as part of the solution to Operation Stack – 3,600 spaces in total.”
The government recently agreed to carry out a review of lorry park provision in response to the rising number of HGVs on the UK’s roads, which has led to chronic problems of what has been dubbed ‘fly parking’ in parts of the county.
In a Commons debate initiated by Faversham and Mid Kent MP Helen Whately last month, the roads minister John Hayes said: “I have decided we will look at the issue afresh. We need to do a new study that takes account of the current circumstances and the distribution of supply and demand.”
While illegal parking blights many parts of the country, Kent is particularly badly affected because of its location and proximity to the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel.
About 10,500 HGVs come into the UK daily and that is predicted to rise.
Cllr Balfour said he would continue to lobby the government for powers to act on illegally parked lorries, saying the current powers were too restrictive.
“Civil parking enforcement in Kent is a responsibility delegated to district councils but can only be done if there is a formal parking restriction backed by a traffic regulation order, yellow lines and signs.
“Inconsiderate parking where there are no regulations and done safely is unenforceable.”
Some commercial operators of existing lorry parks have expressed concerns a huge lorry park at Stanford, likely to be used to hold up to 500 HGVs overnight, could hurt their businesses.