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Paul Carter believes that traffic problems pose a major threat
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to the commerce, people and beauty of the Garden of England. As leader of Kent County Council, Carter ought to know — but he has plans to defend his patch.
Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman has agreed to form a committee with Paul Carter, leader of Kent County Council, and leaders of other affected councils to look at the disproportionate traffic problems faced by the region. -My vision is to establish a fiveyear plan to tackle Dover's infrastructure," says Ladyman. "Maybe we need to do this for all major ports in the country."
Carter feels the minister may be poaching the credit slightly. "I would say it's our vision," he says. "I've been working for a very long time to bring solutions to Dover which will ensure the economic health of Kent."
Modifying Dover harbour so that equal amounts of traffic would be directed from the Eastern Docks to the A2/M2 and from the Western Docks to the M20 would be a major step forward, says Carter: "At the moment the town centre is between the docks, so LGVs are everywhere. Under the new scheme we would avoid having LGVs trundle down the promenade."
He also anticipates a solution to Operation Stack, the policy that has turned the motorway into a truck park 75 times in the past three years — including three time this year alone.The closing of the motorway is so unpopular locally that residents may erect a statue to anyone who successfully defends their highways.
Multifunctional site
Carter says it would require 100 acres to take all the LGVs off the motorway and onto adjacent land when necessary. Although this sounds substantial, he points out that the land could be multifunctional:"We need to find a site with very good motorway connections, because building intersections is expensive. It needs to have good drainage and sufficient subsoil loading capacity [to bear the weight].
"We can then put down reinforced mesh which allows the grass to grow right through it,so when Stack isn't in operation it can still be used for grazing. I think it's a very environmentally sound solution."
Carter has seven weeks to come up with potential sites for his next meeting with Ladyman and he is motivated by more than local votes: "Operation Stack causes one third of Kent's economy to grind to a halt."
Also on the committee's agenda is the third Thames crossing. Currently most traffic leaving Kent ends up on the M2/M20 junctions with the M25. Carter wants to see another route in place allowing traffic to move into Essex and onto the Mll away from the current M251inks."I aIso think it would make sense to put a rail link alongside," he adds "Why not make rail freight easier too?"
A Conservative councillor for Maidstone, and leader of the council since 2005, Carter is frustrated by many things in his situation. The 3.5 million foreign lorries through Dover each year which bring a disproportionate number of defects and hours infringements onto his roads are a constant problem. "Foreign drivers have nowhere to park," he accepts. "But what happens is they use lay-bys, not just to park but as their toilet.
"I have pictures but I won't show you so soon after lunch .They break kerbs and verges, they congregate in the middle of Dover with their tachographs run out. And all the time they pay no duty. We support the Britdisc, as we call it, or the vignette. We think it could bring us £50m in revenue."
Revenue streams
Carter has his eye on other cash too: "We could receive 125-30m of increased revenue from tolling on the third Thames crossing. And the Dartford tunnel now makes I:55m surplus every year net — that's after all maintenance costs. We'd like that back."
Carter is angry about money for two reasons. One is the paltry £.8bn the government spends on roads from the £38bn collected.The seem is that the South-East gets the lowest pe capita funding in England. Carter report that 188 priority schemes went in front of th Regional Transport Board last year and onl 16 were approved.
His aide mutters darkly that most of th money is invested in Labour heartlands.
"But that just means we have to be creative. says Carter."Dover has fewer people living in i now than before the last war—and there are fel towns you can say that about. We're workin hard to wake the government up about th consequences of doing nothing in Kent." II