Kentish Express Ashford & District
KCC considering up to five more overnight HGV parks
Consultants asked to assess viability of possible locations
Kent County Council is investigating the possibility of a string of overnight lorry parks to help curb the rising number of HGVs illegally parked in laybys and residential side streets.
County transport chiefs have commissioned consultants for a second time to reassess three to five unidentified sites in north-west Kent to supplement the large Operation Stack park planned for 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 the council would not be subsidising any lorry park.
He said: “We have commissioned consultants Aecom to revisit the site selection work that they did for us on potential sites.
“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 overnight lorry parking spaces at the Stanford West lorry area being delivered by Highways England as part of the solution to Operation Stack.”
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 Whatley last month, roads minister John Hayes said: “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.
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