A transport minister has said he is not opposed in principal to building lorry parks in the county – and said the Government may even fund them.
Tom Harris, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, told KOS Media he was impressed with the work done by Tory-controlled Kent County Council on its controversial lorry park schemes.
KCC has unveiled plans for a 3,000-capacity lorry park to be built in the countryside between the villages of Smeeth and Sellindge, near junction 10 of the M20, at a cost of up to £40 million. It also wants to build two further lorry parks at sites on the A2/M2 corridor and near the M25.
The plans have met with objections from local residents, some politicians and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
Mr Harris said he would reserve judgement until the Highways Agency has had a chance to examine the details of the proposals and the results of consultations.
He said: “I’m well aware of these proposals and not at all surprised there have been local objections. Certainly, Operation Stack is not satisfactory to anyone.
“Whatever the solution is people have to be prepared that not everybody will be satisfied with the answer.”
Mr Harris said he had held talks with KCC leader Cllr Paul Carter, who has insisted that the Department for Transport pay for the scheme.
Mr Harris continued: “Paul Carter is very engaged in this matter. I’ve been very impressed with the amount of work they’ve done on this. If I were in his position I’d like the DfT to pay for it. As far as funding is concerned I’m going to reserve my option on that. I understand the arguments Paul Carter has made about it being a national matter. Before we start talking about money we need to look at whether it’s logistically practical.
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“In principal I don’t oppose it, I don’t particularly support it either. I understand why people don’t want the Garden of England being spoilt by bloody great trucks.”
He also said the Government had to make sure Kent’s road network would be able to cope with increases in freight traffic entering the country and said £240m was “in the pipeline” for improvements to motorway junctions.
He added: “I’m not going to say I think everything is going to be fantastic in Kent and no one will have problems with through traffic and heavy lorries.”
Mr Harris said he was not privy to the recent conversations between Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner on the recent SeaFrance strike action that caused chaos on Kent’s roads.
He did say that the French government understood the issue and insisted President Sarkozy is “saying the right things” about tackling industrial action.
Dr Hilary Newport, chairman of the Kent CPRE, said it was right for the Government to “keep an eye” on the county’s traffic problems, but said the lorry park proposals would not stop Kent’s roads being a “pinch point” for freight traffic.
She said: “At one level I’m reassured we’ve got national government looking at this.
“We genuinely believe a permanent, built solution would be such a scar. Imagine how these lorry parks would look if the Tour de France comes back in 20 years.
“We’ve got to address the underlying issues. Why are we importing so much? Why are we not looking more at local foods?
“The Government is good at talking about sustainability, but not at putting meat on the bones.”
POSTED: 13/04/2008 15:00:00
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