Slip road decision needs reviewing

The decision by Highways England to close two of the junction 10 slip roads is a massive mistake.

By doing this the traffic issues created by 10 will now be moved to 10A. In last week’s paper residents in both Ashford and Folkestone have branded the closure as a ‘nightmare’ and ‘just plain ridiculous’. It has even resulted in a resident moving from one part of Ashford to the other so then they can easily use junction 9.

The hope and original purpose for 10A is to provide quicker access for freight traffic using the new industrial estate park near Sevington.

What has been forgotten and is very much the elephant in the room is the impact of future housing development sites such as Large

Burton and Chilmington Green. The increase in vehicles from both areas will most likely cause more traffic jams additional to the ones for the McArthurGlen designer outlet.

To put things to perspective, the Local Government Association’s 2017 report on congestion predicts that traffic levels will be up by 55% by 2040 and congestion levels will rise to 85% in some areas.

The accumulated result of this means motorists could face a loss of 4.9 days in time waiting in traffic jams.

I believe the most serious consequence of the slip road closure will be the effect of delays to emergency vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks. As previously reported, there was a successful petition to prevent the closure of the coast bound slip roads which provide easy access to the William Harvey hospital and the M20. I think this decision needs to be reviewed by Highways England. It should be done before both the impact of operation Brock returns and before the impact of road traffic accidents on the M20 means ambulances need quick access to our local hospital.

Cllr Alexander Ward (Lab)