1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
P 'ARKIN&
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
To stack or not to stack
In Kent, nothing creates more division between the local population and the road haulage industry than overnight parking and Operation Stack. Last week, former Tory party leader Michael Howard joined the argument...
By 1:bristopner Wation LAST THURSDAY, Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe Michael Howard hit the headlines in the South-East after he was quoted as saying a new lorry park proposed in his constituency would be built "over my dead body': He made the comment at a transport summit held in the House of Lords on 10 November. The summit was organised by Kent County Council (KCC) as part of its campaign to find a solution to the congestion caused when the police use parts of the M20 as a lorry park during Operation Stack.
The system is used when crossChannel traffic is interrupted by had weather or during industrial action at French ports,
According to KCC Liberal Democrats, Howard told the summit that the "big ideaof a lorry park at Sellindge, near Junction 11 of the M20, would be built "over my dead body':
National problem
Howard was later quoted by BBC South-Ease as saying: "Everybody was agreed at the meeting, [truck parking] is a national problem," but he added: "I don't think the solution is to inflict more misery on the good people of Sellindge."
A spokesman for Howard supplied CM with the following summary of his comments at the Transport Summit: "My constituency is the worst-affected by Operation Stack. I wholeheartedly agree with what has been said in support of the Enough is Enough campaign [run by KCC to oppose strike action in France]; I have written to the government over the legal action the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has brought [against the French government] and I agree that this is a national problem."
He added that Howard wished to offer the following note of caution: "That means 'Channel-crossing delays] needs a national not a local solution, and not a lorry park on a site that has been in the past referred to as the preferred solution. Let's not delude ourselves. There lurks the question of where the lorry park will be.
-I have asked for a list of the sites looked at, and I am still waiting. I would also like to see an examination made of how lorries could be stopped before they reach this area: we need to turn them around long before East Kent. I am not in agreement with the lorry park at Sellindge as a solution."
Trudy Dean, leader of the Liberal Democrats at KCC, said of discussions at the summit: "[I] do not believe that sterilising a huge acreage for use by 3,000 lorries for a few days a year is a sensible use of the countryside. In practice, I cannot see the government putting up £40m to pay for it."
She urged KCC to back the FSB, which has lodged an official complaint with the EC demanding it takes action against the French government for failing to prevent Channel port blockades.
A spokesman for KCC says council leader Paul Carter would welcome an alternative site for the lorry park if one emerged that "trumped" the Sellindge site.
KCC Liberal Democrats say I toward warned Carter not to expect a future Tory government to levy a national charge on foreign trucks (a 'vignette') to pay for the park — one of KCC's favoured revenue-generating schemes.
Separate subjects
Chrys Rampley, manager for infrastructure, environment and business affairs at the Road Haulage Association, says: "The Sellindge issue has been bubbling along for quite some time now.
"It is still a case of trying to get the councillors to divorce issues surrounding Operation Stack from overnight lorry parking.
"The fact is these [Operation Stack and overnight lorry parking] are two totally separate subjects. They are trying to avoid a blot on the landscape for local residents for X number of times per year, but they have to look at the financial viability of it. With Operation Stack, they still have to explore the use of the quick removable barrier."
Whatever the solutions to Kent's problems, the fact is they are more likely to he resolved at a national level—through a thorough evaluation of overnight lorry parking facilities in combination with reducing the number of delays at major port crossings — than bickering at a local level.