Plans to build a £250 million lorry park near the village of Stanford, Kent have been scrapped.

Last year, Balfour Beatty secured a £130m Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase deal to help deliver a 3,600-space lorry park which would help alleviate pressure on the M20 during 'Operation Stack', a police initiative which creates parking spaces for trucks along the motorway.

However, following a judicial review, the Government has decided to drop the plans.

Highways England are now drawing up a number of alternative measures, with an interim solution that would hold freight traffic on the M20 while keeping the motorway open in both directions for other vehicles.

A decision on the interim option being taken forward will be made in early 2018, with delivery complete by March 2019.

Highways England are also developing plans for a permanent solution, including a lorry park, to cope with disruption on Kent roads caused by cross-channel disruption as well as providing daily parking for lorries. A consultation is set to take place next year, ahead of a planning application in 2019.


Highways England Project Director John Kerner said: "Now that the Government has withdrawn the decision to build a lorry area at Stanford West, we have been asked by the Transport Secretary to immediately develop both an interim and a permanent solution to reduce the local traffic impacts if there is cross-channel disruption.

"Highways England is committed to delivering the Government's aim of finding a solution that makes Operation Stack less disruptive for people and businesses in Kent, and the improvements we are taking forward will help to do just that."

Industry bodies the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and Road Haulage Association (RHA) both criticised the decision to drop the plans.

FTA's Head of National and Regional Policy Christopher Snelling said: "Whatever the solution, everyone from the hauliers who keep Britain's supply chain working to the residents of Kent all agree that a better solution for Operation Stack is needed. That this application has to be withdrawn is a major disappointment and means a proper management of a Stack situation may be many more years off."

RHA Chief Executive Richard Burnett added: "As Brexit approaches we are pushing hard for free-flowing customs border controls. If we cannot achieve the right Brexit deal, we could be looking at customs border queues which could potentially cause misery for hauliers and the residents and businesses of Kent."

(LM/JP)