News

Police patrols on the A20 between Folkestone and Dover are to be increased and other measures to improve safety on the road will be introduced.

A 43 vehicle pile-up left one person dead in a serious accident on the road last month.

The Highways Agency has teamed up with Kent Police and Kent Country Council to tackle lorry safety on stretches of roads were collisions have occurred.

Under the banner of Operation Lexicon the three organisations, together with Kent Fire and Rescue and Medway Council, hope to change the way truck drivers behave on roads in the county.

The first to be targeted will be the M20/J3-6 and J9-11 as well as the A20 from Folkestone to Dover.

There will be more night-time police patrols, mobile "keep your distance" and "watch your speed" signs and more Highways Agency Traffic Officer patrols.

Kent Police Chief Inspector Adrian Moody adds: "The locations were defined by analysis as susceptible to collisions involving lorries."  

Hawkinge traffic problems will be history after Michael Howard MP opens the Hawkinge Relief Road tomorrow (Monday 9th July).

The road has been built by George Wimpey, which is building the Blenheim Court development in Hawkinge, and will help alleviate Hawkinge’s congested village centre and make it a safer place for children.

On the day, children from Year 5 of the Churchill School will attend the opening ceremony at 9.45 am and will be taught about road safety by Kent County Council’s road safety operations manager, Steve Horton, before Michael Howard MP cuts the ribbon.

Consolidating its commitment to the local Hawkinge community, George Wimpey is contributing a polytunnel to the Churchill school, which is working with the Hawkinge Gardening Club, a volunteer organisation, to teach the children about the benefits of gardening. Jennie Carter, head teacher of The Churchill School comments that “the polytunnel will mean that the work of educating the children about nutrition, science and going green can continue throughout the year.”

Norman Sharpe, Wimpey’s South East managing director, comments: “George Wimpey is delighted to support local communities. Hawkinge without congestion will help both current and new residents and I’m sure the produce that the school will be growing will be enjoyed.”  

A date has now been set for the opening of the Spitfire Way link road in Hawkinge.

The road which was due to be completed around February 2007 has been dogged by delays and will finally be open to traffic on Monday 9 July.

Folkestone and Hythe MP Michael Howard will be cutting the ribbon at 10.15am after which pupils from The Churchill School will take part in an inaugural cycle ride on bicycles which will be presented to the school by Norman Sharpe from George Wimpey South East Ltd.

The relief road should ensure that fewer vehicles use Canterbury Road in the village centre, and planners have installed road signs which will guide through traffic along Spitfire Way.
 

A multi-million pound solution to ease traffic chaos on the M20 whenever lorries are unable to cross the Channel was announced by transport minister Dr Stephen Ladyman today (25 June).

A quick moveable barrier (QMB) will be used on the M20 to allow four lanes to remain open when lorries are parked on the motorway in Operation Stack.

Previously, non-lorry traffic has been diverted on to the A20.

But transport minister Stephen Ladyman said the £12.6m scheme was a short-term solution until a lorry park was found.

"We are not intending this as a permanent solution but it will deal with the problem for the next few years," he said.

"In the long term we need an off-road lorry park but it is going to take a little while to identify one so in the meantime we are going ahead with the barrier.

It will provide a contraflow on the London-bound carriageway so two lanes will be in place in both directions.

Geoff Dossiter, spokesman for the Tunbridge Wells-based Freight Transport Association, said it was good news that money was being invested to solve the problem of Operation Stack.

"For too long the residents of Kent have had to put up with these problems and so has the transport industry," he said.

"But the real issue is whether this is the best possible solution.

"Perhaps £12.6m could have been spent on the construction of a properly facilitated lorry site."

Kent County Council said it welcomed the announcement but had made it clear to the minister that it would prefer an off-road lorry park.

It had identified a site between Folkestone and Ashford and was prepared to carry out further investigations into this option.

Following a long-running campaign which included an 11,000-name petition against Eurostar's move to cut Ashford's Paris services and end Brussels services when Ebbsfleet opens, passengers are to be given a free travel deal.

Cross-Channel rail passengers will get free travel on local railway services in Kent when the new Ebbsfleet International Station opens.

Eurostar's deal with Southeastern will give free links between Ebbsfleet and Ashford, and other stations nearby.

A Eurostar statement on Tuesday (19 June) said that from 19 November, when Ebbsfleet opens, Ashford will have three daily services to Paris, a daily train to Disneyland, and weekly services to the French Alps and Avignon.

Ebbsfleet will have seven daily services to Paris and five daily services to Brussels.

The rail company has also said parking charges at Ebbsfleet will match those at Ashford, while frequent travellers will get free parking for trips of up to four days at both stations.

Richard Brown, chief executive, said: "We are fully committed to ensuring the best possible level of Eurostar service for the people of Kent."

He said the two stations together would have "significantly more services that will strengthen Kent's international links and its position at the crossroads between the UK and the continent".


 

Dear Editor,

Re: Spitfire Way opening date

Further to my optimism about the Hawkinge link road opening soon, I am further advised that this means after all necessary consents have been given following completion of work by EDF Energy.

The advice I have received is that Spitfire Way will open at the end of June, plus or minus a week.

Cllr David Godfrey
 

The village's long wait for the much heralded Hawkinge link road could soon be at an end.

District councillor David Godfrey has informed the Gazette that the new link road should be opened very shortly.

He has spoken with Kent County Council (KCC) Highways Department today (7 June) who have confirmed EDF Energy are on site finalising lighting and KCC are pressing Wimpey, who built by pass to open the road as soon as possible.

It was expected to be completed and open by February 2007.
 

Dear Editor,

How much longer do we have to wait for the Spitfire Way (Hawkinge bypass) to open?

All I can find online is constant bickering about safety and pedestrian crossings.

Surely the purpose of this road is to ease the congestion in the village centre, so isn't it about time the gates came down?

Mike Howland

 

The days of closing the M20 for use as a lorry park whenever there are hold ups for cross-channel services took a step nearer to it being a thing of the past following a meeting between Transport Minister and Kent MP, Steve Ladyman, and Kent County Council Leader, Paul Carter.

The KCC Leader said, " It is clear that we all want to find a proper solution to the problems caused by Operation Stack and I am hopeful that the Department will publish proposals in about four weeks time."

Mr Carter praised positive and constructive talks with the Department for Transport to find proper alternatives to Operation Stack and said he believed the best answer was a permanent off-highway solution involving an emergency temporary lorry park capable of taking some 3,500 lorries.

"We have put forward a number of site options and the Department for Transport are now looking at these before making an announcement," Mr Carter said.

As an interim measure, a movable barrier could play a significant part in keeping the M20 open both ways, particularly if the barrier could be used elsewhere for major road works when a more permanent solution was realised.

 

I am just old enough to remember a time when you could call British Rail and ask for train times and ticket prices. They would tell you the most cost effective and time effective route for your journey. They would also, invariably, explain how to get a cheaper ticket by booking earlier, or at a different time of day.

Nowadays, working out the rail system in this country is like taking part in an episode of The Krypton Factor and For Boyard all at the same time.

Thanks to our extremely intelligent politicians, we now have lots of separate, private railway companies, who all have separate websites with their own timetables. You can go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and look up train times for the whole network, but you can't buy tickets on that website. However, if you go to the relevant website for the network you want to travel on, you find half the trains featured in National Rail timetables are missing.

Sometimes, you may find an inbound and outbound journey on National Rail actually spans two companies, so you can't book a return ticket in, say, Virgin's website because they only cover half the journey in their timetable.

I was staying in Redhill, which is currently a meeting point for three lines, and I needed to get back to Folkestone. At the ticket office, the lady said, "That will be £85," (I can't actually remember the amount but it was ridiculously high).

After telling her I wanted to buy a ticket and not an actual train, she said, "That's how much it costs because it goes via London."

"I don't need to go via London. Why can't I go via Tonbridge like every other sane person?"

She checked that route and, sure enough, it was less than £20.

Still, it doesn't really matter any more because privatised rail travel is now so expensive, and there are so few carriages in a decreasing number of trains, that I will soon be doing all my travelling by air. After all, the Government is clearly not committed to keeping us on the ground so I may as well go with the flow.