|
 Kent County Council has today revealed its
preferred location for an Operation Stack lorry park near the
M20.
The aim is to minimise disruption and keep traffic moving,
avoiding the damage and inconvenience to residents and the Kent
economy whenever Operation Stack is invoked as a result of
disruption to cross-Channel services.
After considering a number of options, the site was chosen for
its good connectivity and proximity to the Channel Tunnel and Dover
Docks and because it was isolated from built-up areas. It will have
the capacity to hold up to 3,000 lorries.
The site is south of the M20 and north of the high-speed
railway, off Church Lane, Aldington. Well over 10,000 lorries
travel through Kent every day on average and, in the event of
Operation Stack, the lorry park would have the capacity to take a
considerable number.
KCC will seek planning permission and negotiate the necessary
land assembly and will look to national government through the
Department for Transport to fund the scheme.
KCC suggests the scheme could be funded by a 'Brit disc' charge
on all foreign lorries entering the UK.
KCC Leader
Paul
Carter has been in talks with the Transport Minister Tom Harris
calling for urgent confirmation of the government's support for a
funding mechanism.
Paul Carter said: "Operation Stack continues to cause severe
problems. We have already suffered three separate incidents this
year, the most recent involving Phase 2 of Stack which effectively
closes the M20 east of Maidstone and creates widespread disruption
and delays across the county.
"This last incident illustrates yet again the need for a
solution to Stack and the provision of a lorry park to get this
traffic off the M20."
The Freight Transport Association says that the KCC announcement
to seek the establishment of a lorry park at Aldington is great
news.
FTA Director of External Affairs Geoff Dossetter said:"The
evidence of the last 15 years shows that we are going to continue
to need adequate parking facilities for lorries in Kent. It is
crazy that in the event of bad weather in the Channel, or in the
all too frequent case of industrial relations problems in France,
we end up with parking lorries on the motorway.
"An adequate lorry park will be much welcomed by the
international transport industry and, no doubt, the people of Kent
who have suffered greatly from congestion and other problems as
road users seek alternative routes to the closed motorway. The
opening of the new lorry park cannot come quickly
enough." |