Agenda item

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 options to the DfT for the new franchise specification, one of which would have one train per hour omitting Folkestone West, and the other one train per hour calling at both Westenhanger (when required by development at Otterpool Garden Town) and Folkestone West, but this would depend on the agreement of the DfT to enhance the off-peak service to two trains per hour.  The journey time of fifty-three minutes reported in Mr Collor’s emails was not in the scheduled timetable, and would not normally be attainable.

(7)       Mr Ratcliffe introduced the report which asked the Cabinet Committee to consider and endorse, or make recommendations on a proposed decision to adopt a Freight Action Plan for Kent.  He said the original Freight Action Plan had been adopted in 2012, the new proposed plan had been updated and that it was a supporting document to the Local Transport Plan 4 – Delivering Growth without Gridlock.  He referred in particular to paragraph 1.3 of the report which set out five on-going actions for managing freight in Kent and to paragraph 4.3 which set out specific actions included in the plan following an 8-week public consultation between January and March 2017.  He also said the response to the consultation had been very good; however, 90% of respondents said that road freight had a negative impact on them or their local community and 70% said inappropriate lorry parking had a negative impact.

(8)       Mr Whybrow said he was unable to support the report as the paragraphs relating to moving freight from road to rail were not strong enough.  He also said he and an experienced railway consultant’s detailed consultation responses had not been incorporated in the report.  IN addition he said he could not support proposals for a lorry park at Stanford.

(9)       The Chairman invited Mr Rayner to address the Cabinet Committee.  Mr Rayner said that he held a certificate of proficiency in road transport awarded by the DfT.  He said that Brexit presented an opportunity to introduce a licensing arrangement for trucks which would make it more attractive for lorries making deliveries in the midlands and north of the country to use ports such Hull, Harwich, Ipswich or Felixstowe and limit licences for trucks using the Channel Tunnel or Dover Port to lorries making deliveries in Kent or neighbouring counties.  He also said that over the years the benefits accruing to Dover from being a port had reduced.  He finished by urging the Cabinet Committee to recommend to the Cabinet Member that the authority lobbied central government to pursue a licensing arrangement for lorries crossing from the continent.

(10)     Members generally welcomed the report, however, the impact of large lorries on the rural areas and on small towns was raised, as was the importance of enforcement, the use of technology to prevent lorries coming to Kent when Operation Stack was in place; the need to protect local employment opportunities including the export of fish from the Romney Marsh area; and the need not only to keep the M20 open when Operation Stack was in place but also to keep the motor-way junctions open.

(11)     Proposed by Mr Payne and seconded by Mr Ozog that the proposed decision be endorsed.

(12)     Resolved that the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transportation and Waste on the proposed decision to endorse and adopt the Freight Action Plan for Kent be endorsed.

(Voting: For 11; Against 3; Abstentions).

(13)     After the vote Mr Whybrow requested that it be recorded that he had voted against endorsing the decision.