Government defends lorry park scheme

A plan for a huge lorry park off the M20 near Folkestone is the only viable option to tackle Operation Stack, the government has insisted.

The Department for Transport has defended the scheme in its formal response to a select committee report in which MPs raised a number of questions about the emergency lorry park for up to 3,600 HGVs.

The transport committee said it was concerned the DfT was pressing ahead with the scheme without evaluating other options.

In its written response, the government said: “In view of the urgent strategic need to deliver a solution to the c urrent Operation Stack and taking account of practicalities, including operational considerations, a single site lorry area remains the only viable solution.”

It also revealed the DfT was leaning towards making a part of the site a round-the-clock park for HGVs as a way of meeting some of the operational costs.

The response said: “The Government is exploring using the lorry area for overnight parking of lorries which would relieve pressure caused by some drivers parking in unsuitable or illegal locations.”

On the question of whether the lorry park, which would be as big as Disneyland in California, was an appropriate and proportionate response, the DfT said: “A lorry area of t hi s size [for 3,600 l o r r i e s ] wi l l alleviate the queuing of lorries on the M20 during disruption to cross-channel services, in almost all foreseeable events, so easing congestion on the roads in Kent.”

It added the scheme would benefit Kent and the economy because there would be less disruption: “The new lorry area will help keep the M20 moving during disruption to crosschannel services, helpi ng c ompanies go about t heir business and other drivers and residents go about their lives as normally as possible.”

But the DfT also acknowledged the unpredictability of Operation Stack meant that “estimating the value of broader benefits to the local economy and wider UK economy is difficult.”

Highways England has recently started holding meetings with residents affected by the £250m scheme. These have alarmed some in the village of Stanford, who have claimed the site could be larger than first envisaged.

A formal consultation on the scheme is expected to get under way shortly but opponents are weighing up whether to make a legal challenge.