Kentish Express Ashford & District
MP: Solutions to Stack will be revealed in weeks
Discussions held over long-term answer following summer of chaos
Long-term solutions to Operation Stack are expected to be proposed shortly.
Recommendations are due to be published “in the next few weeks” following a summer of negotiations, says Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins.
It follows months of misery for people throughout the summer when the M20 was closed, with HGVs parking in residential areas – causing sleepless nights for residents with drivers arriving late at night, keeping their engines running in the early hours of the morning and blocking the roads.
A meeting held at County Hall, in Maidstone, last week updated district councils, the police, Port of Dover and the haulage industry on work done throughout the summer looking at long-term solutions.
Mr Collins said work had been ongoing over the past four months looking for a long-term solution, such as where off-road lorry parking facilities could be created and how they could be integrated with the motorway network to prevent the level of crisis endured this summer.
Mr Collins said: “The one message that got through loud and clear was that we have to maintain two-way flow of traffic on the M20. We can’t go back to closing the motorway because we saw the terrible problem of gridlock on Kent’s roads.”
Ideas on managing lorry parking and creating new sites were sent to the government in the summer.
Mr Collins said: “In the next few weeks I think we will have a clearer view of what we think the best ideas are to take forward that could give us the long-term solution. In the interim we’ve still got Manston that’s available currently under lease until next summer, but that could be extended and there are different ways of maintaining two-way flow on the M20.
“We’re preparing for the future because everyone expects volumes of freight to increase over the next few years.”