Long Term Solution Needed

We cannot go on dragging barriers on and off the M20 to implement operation Brock every time there is a surge in cross channel traffic and/or a problem with immigration and customs clearance at the port of Dover. Using the motorway as a lorry park, blocking/restricting access and diverting traffic onto the A20 is unacceptable and causes great inconvenience to local residents and their quality of life. Junctions 7 and 8 and their connecting roads are busy throughout a normal day especially during school term times, during operation Brock it is a nightmare.

l do not know why the temporary lorry park at Manston airport was not activated during the latest problems to avoid stacking traffic on the M20. In the long term proper lorry parks need to be built with adequate facilities for drivers and car passengers. They should be designed so that they can quickly be opened and closed to meet demand in the same way Operation Brock is brought into operation and closed down. There will always be a debate over location but a compromise has to be reached, I note a large commercial development on a plot of land close to junction 8, this could have been used as a lorry park, is there any scope for using land adjacent to the existing Junction 8 services, either way, motorways we’re never designed to be lorry parks.

Mention is made of technology possibly being the solution, I believe it will not. We need to first get lorries parking off road and then use technology to regulate the flow from the holding areas into Dover so there is a steady flow of traffic that the port customs and immigration services can handle.