Agenda item

Mr R W Gough, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Supporting Independence; Mr K A Ferrin MBE, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste; Mr P Raine, Managing Director, Environment and Regeneration; and/or Mr M Sutch, Head of Planning and Transport Strategy, Environment and Regeneration Directorate, have been invited to attend the meeting at 11.30 am to answer Members’ questions on this item.

(1)       Mr R W Gough, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Supporting Independence; Mr K A Ferrin MBE, Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste; and Mr P Raine, Managing Director, Environment and Regeneration, attended the meeting to answer Members’ questions on this item which covered the following issues:-

(a)       Replacement for Operation Stack

(i)         Site Search

In answer to a question from Dr Eddy, Mr Raine explained that a site of up to 100 acres would be required.  100 acres would cope with the worst possible Operation Stack scenario, so a smaller site could be used which would deal with all but the worst scenarios.  A site search was currently taking place and was due to be completed by the end of April.

(ii)        Site Acquisition

In answer to a question from Dr Eddy, Mr Raine said that once a suitable site had been identified, it would need to be acquired by the County Council or the Highways Agency, both of which had compulsory purchase powers which could be used if necessary.

(iii)       Planning and Technical Issues

In answer to questions from Dr Eddy, Mrs Stockell and Mr Parker, Mr Raine said that once a suitable site had been identified the planning issues would need to be discussed with the District Council concerned.  Technical solutions were being explored but it was inevitable that some engineering works would be required to make the site suitable for use as an emergency lorry park, and to provide satisfactory access.  However, it was hoped that a technical solution could be adopted that would allow the site to continue in agricultural use, perhaps for grazing, when not required for lorry stacking.

(iv)       Lessons from Elsewhere

In answer to a question from Mrs Stockell, Mr Raine said that disruption to cross-Channel traffic did not appear to cause the same problem in northern France as in Kent, presumably because there was more space around Calais where lorries could wait.

(v)        EU Funding

In answer to a question from Mr Smyth, Mr Ferrin said that a meeting had been arranged with one of the MEPs for the South East, who also held a senior position in the European Parliament, to explore the possibility of obtaining assistance from the EU.

(vi)       Costs

In answer to a question from Mr Chell, Mr Ferrin said that the permanent solution to Operation Stack was expected to cost some £20m whereas the Quick Moveable Barrier (QMB) under consideration by the Highways Agency was estimated to cost £10m and would deal only with Phase 1 of Operation Stack (850 lorries out of a total of 4,500 catered for by Phases 1 and 2).

(b)       Permanent Overnight Lorry Parks

In answer to a question from Mr Cope, Mr Ferrin said that, completely separate from Operation Stack, there was a need for a number of permanent overnight lorry parks in Kent to deal with the detrimental effect of lorries parking casually in inappropriate places.  Problems were particularly acute around Dover, Folkestone and Ashford.

(2)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)       Mr Gough, Mr Ferrin and Mr Raine be thanked for attending the meeting and answering Members’ questions;

(b)       the Cabinet Members for Regeneration and Supporting Independence and Environment, Highways and Waste be recommended to:-

(i)         obtain information about the actions taken by the French authorities to deal with the effects of disruption to cross-Channel transport services to see whether any lessons can be learned;

(ii)        actively and urgently seek EU funding towards the costs of providing an emergency lorry parking site to replace Operation Stack;

(iii)       urgently investigate the planning issues relating to provision of an emergency lorry parking site to replace Operation Stack;

(c)        the Managing Director, Environment and Regeneration be asked to provide Members of the Committee with further information about the issue of the Police not always separating out flows of lorries heading for different ports and the Channel Tunnel quickly enough, particularly as it seemed that 80% of lorries had transferable ferry/tunnel bookings, and about the action being taken to try to overcome this problem.