News feature


IN THE gossipy world of cross-Channel transport, it sometimes pays to be sceptical about the motive behind the message, but disturbing possibilities are emerging about the M20 corridor post-Brexit. SIMON FINLAY reports...


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downsmail.co.uk


Brexit: chaos looms forM20


THE chief executive of the Port of Dover, bunged up with a heavy cold, is not in any mood to mince his words. Speaking at his offices overlook-


ing the Western Docks, Tim Wag- gott says research shows the M20 faces severe tailbacks if a solution to freight movements across the Channel is not found before Brexit becomes a reality in 2019. MrWaggott is clearly concerned


that the prospect of Operation Stack in place on an almost perma- nent footing rests on whether a transitional border and customs arrangement can be found before departure fromthe EU. Analysts commissioned by the


port have found that if each truck’s two-minute average processing time doubles to dealwith extra pa- perwork and checks, the conse- quences could bring unimaginable difficulties. MrWaggott tellsDownsMail: “It


could lead to 17-mile queues on each side of the Channel. That’s whatwe’ve found. “The secret will be how we keep


the trafficmoving.Howcanwe de- liverwhat ourChancellor called the most ‘free and frictionless’ tradewe possibly can?” The Freight Transport Associa-


tion, a respected trade lobby group, paints an even gloomier picture. If four minutes clearance time takes queues toAshford, sixwouldmean Maidstone. Eight would see freight backed up into Essex.


Transport secretary Chris Grayling has floated the possibility of theManstonAirport site as a clearing house...“Absolutely bonkers idea,” is one reaction.


16 Port of Dover boss TimWaggott It could spellmajor trouble ahead


for rural communities around Maidstone’s A20 route such as Lenham, Leeds, Harrietsham, Hollingbourne and Bearsted. Those communities – already suf-


fering large and growing volumes of vehicles daily – would soon be swamped by unwanted trafficwith no alternative routes. Hollingbourne parish councillor


John Cobbett has publicly voiced concerns for many months about the future and urges Kent County Council to come upwith a “contin- gency or the county could grind to a standstill”. Mr Waggott adds: “We have to


find a solution tomaintain the tran- sition times at the present level of two minutes. How do we avoid it being fourminutes ormore – that’s the question.” This will


inevitably involve


“working with our European friends” to achieve the best out- come, he says. Moving a speedy technology-


based clearance system away from the border – i.e. not the space-con- strained Port of Dover with white cliffs on one side and sea on the other – will cause even more prob- lems. Transport


secretary Chris


Grayling has floated the possibility of the Manston Airport site as a clearing house.


Maidstone East December 2017 Port observers scoff at the idea of


redirecting huge volumes of freight to Thanet only to trundle thewhole way toDover on single-track, coun- try roads. “Absolutely bonkers idea,” is one


reaction. But, presently, the only site seri-


ously on the radar is land set aside for a £250m lorry park on the M20 outside Folkestone, which is now the subject of a judicial review and it is doubtful if it could be running by Brexit’s 2019 deadline. Besideswhich, it ismeant to be a


freight holding area when cross- Channel operations are suspended or perhaps used as overnight park- ing to stop foreign lorries illegally using the county’s roadsides for free – not a 24-hour, non-stop cus- toms clearance facility. The feeling in political circles is


that once it is built, its primary pur- pose may be allowed to become more opaque. However, any devi- ation from the original proposal could be open to further challenge and delays. The spectre of the impending


chaos onKent’s roads appears to be heightening local political anxieties. Eleven MPs – including Helen


Grant,HelenWhately and TomTu- gendhat – havewritten a joint letter to Mr Grayling to complain progress is too slow on an M20 lorry park. One insider told Downs Mail:


“They have to be seen to be saying something because they know there is, potentially, trouble up ahead. The lorry park isn’t the issue anymore, it’s Brexit.” But Charlie Elphicke, Dover’s


MP, remains resolutely clamped to the same message: “Deal or no deal, we will make an immense success of Brexit.” However, Mr Elphicke recog-


nises that the M20 lorry park re- mains the best – possibly the only – option left to Kent’s MPs to cling onto, despite its apparent unsuit- ability. After all, in three decades of Op-


eration Stack, the best brains in Westminster and Whitehall have neither found the will nor the way


In three decades of Operation Stack, the best brains in Westminster and Whitehall have neither found thewill nor the way to solve this politically toxic issue.


Brexit has changed everything.


to solve this politically toxic issue. Brexit has changed everything. Mr Elphicke is now in no mood


for shilly-shallying in London. “The Treasury and the Depart-


ment for Transport should stop dithering and get on with it,” he tells DownsMail. To prove the point, the former tax


lawyer chaired a meeting of MPs andhaulage representatives atWest- minster onOctober 17,where former Border Force director general Tony SmithCBE,Eurotunnelpublic affairs director John Keefe, Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett and shipping trackers Kuehne&Nagel’s international for- warding director Mark Johnson were on the expert panel. Mr Burnett complained access to


governmental help and advice has been limited while a more circum- spect Mr Keefe warned that “in- creased (freight) volumes are coming regardless” and that Brexit could be “a lever to help get some of the technologywe need tomove things forward tomake sure traffic flows smoothly as traffic grows.” Mr Johnson, however, sent the


message toWhitehall: “Tell us what we’ve got to do andwe’ll get ready.” But, more starkly, asked if he


thought the roads toDover, such as the M20 and A2, would be able to cope in the event of a late failure in Brexit negotiations, Mr Johnson said: “Absolutely not.”


Maidstone East December 2017 17


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