The preferred site is thought to be near the M20 beside junction 10a to the south of Ashford. But concerns have been raised in Parliament that arrangements have been left too late.

“There are five and a half months to go and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster still cannot even confirm the site,” remarked Labour MP Wes Streeting on Monday.
Ashford MP Damian Green (Con) told the House that placing an outbound emergency lorry park in his constituency close to the site of several thousand new homes and a hospital would be wrong, and asked if the Government expects to develop the area into a permanent lorry park.

Michael Gove replied: “It is not the case that any specific site has been absolutely confirmed; we are in commercial negotiations with a number of sites.” He added that some of the infrastructure will be temporary, some permanent, and extended an invitation to all Kent MPs to discuss the proposals.

The Minister was asked by Dartford MP Gareth Johnson (Con) what plans have been put in place to communicate with foreign lorry drivers of the new arrangements. He replied that an information campaign launched this week will help to ensure that businesses in the EU and UK will “be aware of what they need to do”.

But the Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield (Lab) said she is concerned that a lorry park “will cause serious tailbacks and another summer of traffic chaos”.

Damian Green told TP Weekly News yesterday that if a deal could be struck with the EU and hauliers made use of new digital customs system “there shouldn’t be delays at Dover or the Channel Tunnel that require an emergency lorry park”. If friction at the border is encountered, he said the ‘Operation Brock’ system of managing traffic could be used hold a few thousand lorries.

But a better solution would be to prevent delays from forming in Kent, he added. “Frankly, given the amount of communications in the cab, it shouldn’t be difficult (to tell lorry drivers) to wait at a service station somewhere that may not even be in Kent.”

It is not the first time a holding area for lorries has been suggested beside the M20 in Kent. A proposal had been drawn up several years ago for a site near junction 11 as an alternative to ‘Operation Stack’ during times of cross Channel disruption, but was cancelled in 2017.

The Road Haulage Association said on Monday that a new Government Brexit campaign “fails to address the magnitude of what is needed to manage customs complexities”. It’s chief executive Richard Burnett added: “There remains a vast amount of work to be done and the timescales are extremely short.”

(Photograph: Highways England)