Kent must have lorry parks, experts claim

26 March 2008

Transport consultants have called for the ‘urgent’ roll out of lorry parking facilities in Kent to accommodate the predicted increase in cross-Channel freight traffic.

In its Channel state of freight report, MDS Transmodal backs Kent County Council’s Operation Stack lorry park proposal (Surveyor, 20 March 2008), and says more are needed to minimise congestion on Kent’s road network.

‘Lorry parking facilities should be multi-purpose, providing not just secure overnight parking, but also be available in the event of implementation of Operation Stack, and could act as a buffer zone for the port of Dover,’ the report says.

It warns that freight traffic on the Channel corridor is predicted to grow from 3.8M in 2005, to 7.1M in 2030, on the back of an 85% increase in ferry traffic. The report recommends that a business model be developed to ensure the parks are affordable to hauliers by pooling resources from both the public and private sectors.

In addition, a regional freight strategy should be developed in the Southeast to decide on the size, nature and location of lorry parking facilities, and on other issues, such as the feasibility of shifts to other modes and corridors.

The report backs distance-based road pricing for HGVs in the medium to long term, but dismisses Kent County Council’s Britdisc proposal, ‘because the tax would be on use of the strategic road network, which is not managed by the local authority’.

Furthermore, a toll on trucks through Kent only would ‘almost certainly’ be illegal under European law, it added. ‘The key issue on the Channel corridor is a lack of official parking spaces for lorries,’ the report concludes.

‘The consequent inappropriate and illegal parking has significant impacts on local residents, the safety of other road-users and the wellbeing of the drivers on a daily basis and without a solution will only worsen as traffic volumes rise in the future.’

Speaking at the report launch, KCC cabinet member for highways, Keith Ferrin, said the council was set to unveil proposals for two more lorry parks, one on the A2-M2 corridor, and one on the M25 corridor. The report was commissioned by the Channel Corridor Partnership and Calais Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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Kent must have lorry parks, experts claim

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