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News M20 gridlock fear post Brexit


AS confusion continues around customs controls post-Brexit, Kent County Council is being asked howthe area’s roadswill cope,with predictions of Operation Stack and border control backlogs. It follows concerns of long


queues building at the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel be- cause of customs checks after the country leaves Europe in March 2019. Hollingbourne Parish Council


has been particularly vocal, fearing Operation Stack could become a permanent feature of Kent life. The county council, which this


week admitted there are “no guar- antees that we’re not going to have problems”, has been asked by Hollingbourne’s county councillor Shellina Prendergast to outline its trafficmanagement plans. Parish councillor John Cobbett


told DownsMail the effect of Stack for the village is traffic gridlock, which is replicated across the area. He added: “The Port of Dover,


the UK Chamber of Shipping, and the RoadHaulageAssociation have made it clear that such a situation


Tories re-elect


Carter as boss TORYcounty councillor PaulCarter has been re-elected as leader of the Conservatives atKentCountyCoun- cil.


And first to congratulate himwas


one of Theresa May’s closest politi- cal allies,DamianGreen. Mr Green, who was appointed


deputy prime minister in all but name as First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office in Junewas a guest at theKentConser- vatives AGM, where the vote took place on Friday (October 6). Sixty-two-year-old Mr Carter,


who lives on the SuttonRoadatLan- gley andrepresentsMaidstoneRural North on the county council, was first elected leader of the Conserva- tiveGroup and KCC back in 2005. He succeeded the popular and


widely-respected Sandy Bruce- Lockhart. MrGreen (61)went on to congrat-


ulate the group on “winning the largestConservativemajority in any of the shire counties” in the May elections. He addedthathewas “veryproud


of theworkKCChas achievedunder Paul’s leadership and his predeces- sor SandyBruce-Lockhart in helping people inKent livemoreprosperous andmore fulfilling lives”. As always, the issue of Brexitwas


not far down the agenda, with the 61-year-old minster fielding ques- tions from county councillors as he spoke about the challenges of man- aging a successful exit fromthe EU. Mr Green has been the MP for Ashord, Kent, for 20 years.


will result in traffic chaos and Op- eration Stack, possibly perma- nently. “Kent County Council needs to


have a contingency plan or the county could grind to a standstill.”


The questionwill be tabled at the


next full council meeting of Kent County Council (KCC) at County Hall on Thursday, October 19, starting at 10am, with a response expected from Matthew Balfour,


the cabinet member for KCC’s highways and transport. Members ofHollingbourne Parish


Council will attend, and interested residents are also invited. Aspokesman for the county coun-


cil toldDownsMail: “ADepartment for Transport (DfT) study into na- tional lorry parking supports anec- dotal evidence and previous studies in finding that on-site lorry parking facilities in the county are unable to meet demand for spaces. “KCC is carrying out feasibility


studies for truckstops at various lo- cations along the M20/A20 and M2/A2 corridors and will look to work in partnershipwith the private sector to secure and promote these sites. “KCC has long called on the gov-


ernment to alleviate issueswhenOp- eration Stack is called which causes misery to residents andmotorists.”


Delays as footbridge is replaced


DRIVERS face fivemonths of delays and lane closures on theM20 as work to replace a collapsed footbridge near Addington get under way. Lane closures, 24/7 speed


restrictions of 50mph, and narrow lanes will be in place, and hard shoulders and slip roads will be closed. The work is due to begin on Monday, October 30 and will include weekends, with completion expected byMarch 31, 2018. Highways England’s contractors,


A-one+, will be replacing the bridge which stood between junctions 4 (Leybourne) and 3 (Borough Green and theM26). It was demolished after being struck by a digger, causingmassive chaos during last year’s August bank holiday weekend. The new footbridge covers the


same footprint as the old one and some of the existing foundations


AYLESFORDMP Tracey Crouch has joined forces with neighbouring MP Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) in calling for the re- placement of the M20 footbridge to be delayed until work starts on the “smart” motorway scheme on the same stretch. Posting on Facebook, Miss


Crouch said: “MP Tom Tugendhat and I have written to Highways England calling for a raremoment of common sense.” The MPs expressed concerns re-


will be re-used. Planned road closures during the


scheme include lane 1 fromthe M26 onto theM20 on the coast- bound carriageway and the hard shoulder of theM20 London-bound and coastbound fromJ4 to J2. Full closures will be in place when the new bridge is lifted into place. Drivers wishing to continue their


journey along theM20 coastbound carriageway will be diverted off the M20 at junction 2 on to the A20


garding the scheduling of the East Street footbridge project, which is due to start near at the end of Oc- tober and is set to last for five months. The scheme is due for comple-


tion in March, when Highways England will begin work on the smart motorway project (SMP) to add an extra lane using the hard shoulder betweenM20 junctions 3 and 5, with disruption expected until January 2020. The letter to Highways England


London Road. Traffic heading for London will be diverted at the second exit onto the A228. The contractors said: “We have


made every effort to ensure disruption is kept to aminimum, but there will be inevitably be some noise and disruption generated by these works and for that we apologise in advance.When particularly noisy operations are unavoidable, we will aimto complete these before 11pm.”


MPs call forwork to coincidewith ‘smart’ project


chief executive Jim O’Sullivan, said: “It would seemamore effec- tive and considerateway of sched- uling these works if Highways England were able to delay the in- stallation of the footbridge until March 2018 so that it can take place alongside the SMP works, when disruption is already ex- pected. If these projects could be merged, it would reduce the com- bined timescale by five months and lessen the impact for mo- torists and residents.”


Maidstone November 2017 37


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