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Kent truck park funding might not Stack up...

20th March 2008, Page 6
20th March 2008
Page 6
Page 6, 20th March 2008 — Kent truck park funding might not Stack up...
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By Chris Tindall KENT COUNTY Council admits that its plan to acquire land next to the M20 and develop a site for trucks to park on during Operation Stack could take at least two-anda-half years to come to fruition.

The news that the council has finally found a site large enough to stack thousands of LGVs when Dover Port cannot handle any more traffic has been welcomed by the haulage industry. However, the council will now have to negotiate a price to purchase the 70-acre site from a local farmer before it applies to develop it into a vast truck park. Assuming there are no problems, it will be nearly 2011 before the site is up and running.

There are also questions over whether the government will fund the plan. A Department for Transport spokesman says: -We will consider this proposal. However, it will have to be properly evaluated to ensure it represents value for taxpayers' money.

"We will need to assess a number of factors before we can decide whether to support the proposal.A council spokesman says: "It's early days. A new access road will have to be constructed, but it will tg come straight off the motorway." g Asked what will happen if the government refuses to fund the lorry park, he says: don't know. But we aren't just relying on the government; we're also exploring European Parliament avenues as well."

Conservative MEP Richard Ashworth has already raised the issue in the European Parliament. Commenting on the chaos on the M20 and at Dover, which was caused by SeaFrance officers' decision to strike, Ashworth says: -1 ask that the Presidency prevail upon the European Commission to make sure the principle of free movement of people and goods in the EU single market is upheld.

"I also ask that they bring far greater urgency to their efforts to bring a permanent solution to this problem."

• Council leader Paul Carter says he fears Kent's nickname, The Garden of England', will be replaced with 'The Garden of Gridlock' if the government fails to introduce a Brit Disc scheme. Carter says: "We've long been suggesting a Brit Disc scheme, which will charge foreign lorries for u.sing Kent's roads. It would pay for the lorry park, and contribute to a third Thames crossing.

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