Issue - meetings

To consider and endorse, or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste on the proposed decision to endorse and adopt the Freight Action Plan for Kent.

Joe Ratcliffe (Transport Strategy Manager) and Sam Yates (Transport Planner) were in attendance for this item

(1)       Mr Balfour (Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) said that the plan was appropriate with sufficient flexibility to enable any special cases to be considered.

(2)       The clerk read an email from Cllr Paul Bartlett (Ashford Borough Council) noting the objections from residents to the Stanford Lorry Park and the impact on local residents of proposals for further overnight lorry parking at Waterbrook near Sevington in Ashford.  It also said that a network of smaller lorry parks needed to be brought forward by all districts simultaneously to avoid excessive demand at Waterbrook if it were brought forward first.

(3)       Mr Balfour said that Kent County Council were supporting the DfT and the Highways England to bring forward a lorry holding area near to the major trunk routes that could be used when Operation Stack was in place.  He referred to the proposals in the Freight Action Plan and a pilot project to take place later in the year aimed at eliminating inappropriate parking.

(4)       Mr Balfour said the authority was working with the government to address the issue of lorry parking.  He anticipated there would be changes in legislation to make it easier to deal with inconsiderate parking where there were no specific traffic regulations.  He acknowledged the need for local lorry parking and that it should be as close as possible to the major trunk roads.  He also said work was underway to produce a plan to restrict inconsiderate parking in the county and that he hoped to announce a test project later in the year to deal with parking.

(5)       The Chairman read an email from Mr Collor, who was not in attendance for the Cabinet Member update, on rail at item 7 of the agenda. Mr Collor wished to respond to the Cabinet Member update by asking about possible improvements in the journey time between Dover and London St Pancras.  He also wanted it recorded in the minutes that he did not agree with officers’ comments in the Kent County Council response to the DfT on 19 May specifying the service enhancements it was seeking for High Speed, Mainline and Metro services in the new franchise.

(6)       In response Mr Balfour read an email from Stephen Gasche (Principal Transport Planner) that said the current fastest running times in the peak periods between Dover Priory and London St Pancras were 64 minutes on the train leaving Dover at 07:16 and 64 minutes on the trains leaving St Pancras hourly between 19:37 and 23:37.  The normal running times were 67 or 68 minutes in both directions.  In theory it might be possible to have one journey in each direction in the peak period which omitted Folkestone West and Ebbsfleet, thus saving four minutes in each direction and taking sixty minutes, but this would require omitting stations with significant passenger demand.  The email also said that KCC had presented alternative  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11