Lorry park site back on agenda

The government is being urged to renew efforts to find a site for a permanent lorry park following the announcement the M20 contraflow is being lifted.

It is now five years since former Chancellor George Osborne revealed he was earmarking £250 million for a permanent lorry park in Kent as an alternative to Operation Stack.

And it is two years since the Department for Transport scrapped plans for a huge lorry park off the M20 at Stanford near Hythe.

Proposals for a lorry park close to Brenley Corner have also been shelved.

Kent County Council leader Cllr Roger Gough has welcomed the removal of the steel barrier, but has warned a solution still needs to be found for when the M20 is closed or disrupted for other reasons – such as bad weather across the English Channel.

Cllr Gough, pictured right, said: “Leaving the barrier and speed restrictions in place now the government is standing down no-deal contingency planning for Brexit would have been met with exasperation and incomprehension by residents and road users. “However, this highlights how we need to get back to finding lasting solutions for lorry parking, borders and any disruption in the Straits. “There is a wider issue around frictionless trade and the need to have arrangements for border checks and customs that were closely aligned to the existing ones. “Post-Brexit there will still be a very large volume of trade between the UK and mainland Europe travelling through Dover and Folkestone.” As things stand now the barrier is being removed, the contingency plan for dealing with congestion and disruption along the M20 could be to revert back to its predecessor – Operation Stack.

In 2017, a controversial proposal for a lorry park off the M20 at Stanford was dropped ahead of a legal challenge by opponents.

Despite a pledge by the then transport secretary Chris Grayling that there would be a public consultation in 2019 on possible sites, the government admitted last April it had yet to identify potential locations.

It emerged government officials had written to hundreds of landowners seeking permission to carry out ecological surveys.