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Lorry park could be used for tourists too
[ July 25, 2016 // Chris ]The proposed lorry area near Stanford should be made available for tourist traffic if needed in order to keep the M20 moving, said the Freight Transport Association’s head of policy for south east England, Natalie Chapman.
Highways England is consult in the coming weeks on the details for the design and operation of the new parking site to alleviate Operation Stack.
Ms Chapman continued: “FTA believes that now is a good time to look at all possible scenarios and offers an opportunity to consider the feasibility of the site being made available for tourist traffic if we had a similar situation in the future.”
She added: “We do need to solve the root causes of congestion and delays at the Port. Given the recent terrorist attack in Nice, FTA fully understands the need for heightened security and additional checks, but it is unforgiveable that the French border force was so under-resourced.
There must be better processes put in place at the Port with extra personnel drafted in at peak times – otherwise there is a risk that Operation Stack may be introduced and we cannot have a repeat performance of last year.”
Chapman concluded: “The site at Stanford will accommodate up to 3,600 lorries which is stages 1 and 2 of Operation Stack, but it could hold many more cars. However, we would need to ensure that tourist and freight traffic are separated. The peak days for tourist and freight traffic are different – with tourists heading to the continent across weekends and lorries leaving the UK mid-week.”