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The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

17 April 2008

You wait twenty years for the Council to find a lorry park site, then like those proverbial London buses, three come along together.

Operation Stack as we now know it, was first implemented as an emergency police measure way back in 1988 when the P&O seamen’s strike in Dover brought the port to a virtual standstill. The holding areas at the harbour soon filled up and there was nowhere else to hold all those heavy goods vehicles trundling down the M20 than on the motorway itself and hence it was that Operation Stack was born.

Over the years, the practice of closing the east bound carriageway of the M20 and using it to park lorries has evolved to become the standard response to situations that result in the number of vehicles approaching Dover exceeding and overwhelming the capacity of the ferries to ship them across the Channel.

Everyone knows that the only practical solution is the provision of a large capacity lorry park on the motorway approaches but no one wants to pay for it of course and until recently KCC, as the strategic planning authority did precious little to identify such a site.

Things began to change last year when voices were raised in Parliament and after the then Minister of State for Transport, Steve Ladyman entered into talks with the County Council. Discussions took place for the provision of quick removable barriers to lessen the restrictions of Operation Stack in the short term and consultants were commissioned to search for a permanent lorry park to replace Stack altogether in the longer term.

I was invited to County Hall to see the short listed sites identified by the consultants and shortly afterwards I found myself sitting with the Minister in Westminster during a hastily arranged telephone conference with KCC which enabled broad agreement to be reached on the way forward.

Originally, the only land ear marked for a lorry park was a site to the east of Ashford lying between Aldington and Sellinge but KCC now seem to be saying that they want a two further sites – one on the M25 and another on western end of the M20.

There will now be one hell of row about the locations and villagers local to the sites – especially in Kent – will oppose the proposals with all their might, and who could blame them. But that’s not to say KCC shouldn’t proceed with their planning application and make every effort to obtain consents, seek funding and turn their paper proposals into practical workable lorry parks.

There will also be a row about funding, with the Government wanting County to pay, County will wanting the Government pay and the rest of us wanting all those foreign lorry drivers who wear out our roads to pick up the bill.

There’s been talk of requiring foreign lorries to pay a Britdisc levy or a vignette charge as some other EU countries do. I’ll sign up for any system that pumps extra cash into Dover and gets rid of Operation Stack.