Kentish Express Ashford & District
Police questioned use of Manston for Op Stack
Kent’s police chief raised a series of problems over plans to use the former Manston Airport as an emergency lorry park during Operation Stack, it has emerged.
Chief constable Alan Pughsley said the proposal was not a viable solution and listed a number of problems about using the 800acre site as a temporary park – just days before the government formally announced it would be.
In a letter to the leader of Kent County Council Paul Carter, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Pughsley said his officers had identified “several issues from their initial assessment”.
These included that the road network was “not sufficient to deal with the increase in freight traffic via the A28/A253 or the A256.”
He also expressed concerns the site was 23 miles from the nearest A2 junction and that the A256 was a single carriageway “via rural villages and not suitable for heavy HGV use”.
“The proposal is likely to compound congestion in rural issues from the A2 to the site,” he wrote.
Mr Pughsley said the site was “unsuitable for large-scale parking of freight” and was capable of holding just 450 HGVs.
He also raised concerns that the police did not have any statutory powers to direct traffic on to a privately-owned site.
However, four days later the Department f or Transport announced it would use Manston as a temporary site and in a joint statement, Kent Police offered its endorsement.
Deputy chief constable Paul Brandon said that “following work by the Department for Transport and Highways England, the option to divert freight bound for Europe to Manston airfield, whilst very challenging, has become more feasible in terms of resourcing and logistics”.
Manston was put on standby in early August after its new owners agreed a three-month contract with the Department for Transport.
Preparation work, including installing lights, temporary toilets and catering facilities, was carried out.
However, it has not yet been put to the test after the prolonged period of disruption came to an end in the summer.
A £468 million package of measures designed to offer an alternative to Operation Stack was recently published – including a scheme for an ‘storage area’ off the M20 capable of storing 4,000 lorries.