Ever since my election - and particularly since the nightmare of last summer - I have been campaigning for an alternative to closing the M20 when there is disruption at the Channel crossings. I therefore welcomed the Chancellor’s announcement in November that £250 million will be made available to build a lorry park.
Highways England recently held a public consultation on where it should be built. The proposed sites are both near junction 11 of the M20 near Stanford and can be easily accessed from the motorway.
The consultation asked for views on the suitability of each site, and on how the lorry park should be operated. The consultation documents, which explain the advantages and disadvantages of each site, can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations
I wrote to nearly 3000 lcoal residents who live near the M20 to encourage them to respond to the consultaiton. I also responded and you can read what I said below:
"Kent ground to a halt over the summer of 2015 as a result of Operation Stack. Long stretches of the M20 were closed for 32 days, blocked with up to 7,000 queuing lorries because of disruption in Calais. This caused chaos and misery for my constituents; journeys that usually take 5 or 10 minutes took hours, people couldn’t get to work or to important appointments, operations were delayed because hospital staff couldn’t get to work, teachers struggled to get to school and businesses couldn’t transport their goods. A ten-year-old girl had to wait an hour and a half for an ambulance after falling off a climbing frame. At least one local secondary school changed their timetable to allow for delayed journeys. Kent’s tourist industry suffered a £50 million loss of revenue in July alone. This problem is only going to get worse as the economy grows and freight traffic increases. So Operation Stack as we know it – relying on the M20 as a Lorry Park - is not sustainable; we need a long-term alternative. On behalf of my many constituents who have written and spoken to me about Operation Stack, I support the construction of a new permanent lorry park so lorries can be queued off the M20.
I support Highways England’s proposal that the new lorry park should be built close to the M20 near Junction 11. This avoids re-routing lorries around Kent and should result in a high level of compliance with the queuing process by lorry drivers. I am mindful that the proposed sites are close to an area of ancient woodland and near the Kent Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and I appreciate concerns expressed by residents and CPRE about the impact. Although the proposed sites are not in my constituency, Faversham and Mid Kent also includes parts of the Kent AONB and I am committed to protecting that precious landscape and its wildlife. I therefore encourage Highways England to do their utmost to minimise and mitigate the effect on the landscape and wildlife, and understand that the West site has advantages over the North site in this respect.
I also appreciate the effects a lorry park might have on local residents, and support all efforts by Highways England to minimise the detrimental impact. For instance, the lorry park should have direct access to the M20, so that lorries do not need to use local roads. I understand the West site has direct access to the M20.
I have received some letters expressing concern about the construction of a large lorry park which will only occasionally be used, and asking whether instead more freight could travel by rail. While I would welcome increased freight transport on the rail network, I understand that for the foreseeable future (and with a growing economy) we are certain to see increased freight on the roads. Therefore, while increased rail freight is desirable, the reality is that we need a road solution as soon as possible.
Although I realise that 3,600 parking spaces will provide adequate capacity in most cases of disruption, there were times last summer when nearly 7,000 lorries were parked on the M20. This was an extreme case, but with freight traffic increasing, contingency must be in place should the lorry park prove inadequate. That means improving Kent’s road infrastructure including upgrading the M20, M2 and A2. It also means Highways England reviewing it’s traffic management response. Should the lorry park become full and it becomes necessary to stack lorries in the M20, Highways England must look seriously at how a new lorry park could be integrated into a traffic management plan to allow two way traffic to flow on the M20 even when Operation Stack is in place. I urge Highways England to ensure that this is included in the forthcoming work, and that any improvements to the M20 required should also be carried out using the budget provided. What we do not want is a full Lorry Park and the M20 at a standstill.
I also urge Highways England to address at the same time the overall shortage of lorry parking across Kent. I regularly hear from constituents who are very worried about ‘fly-parking’ on the M20, particularly at Junction 8. There are also problems with lories parking on lay-bys on the A20, particularly on Detling Hill, on the A2, and on other main roads and lanes across the area. Fly parking is frustrating for local residents, leads to litter and unhygienic behaviour and can be dangerous. The new permanent lorry parking facility as outlined in Alternative 4 could potentially alleviate this problem. In addition, I urge Highways England to look at increasing lorry parking facilities further north in the county and before lorries even get into Kent, to address this problem of fly-parking.
Overall, I welcome the proposal to build a lorry park and urge Highways England to progress quickly, to make sure that never again should Kent be at a standstill because of Operation Stack. "
