Government spent £200k installing M20 cones for Brexit traffic plan Operation Brock and removed them a day later
10:25, 27 November 2019
updated: 13:24, 29 November 2019
The installation of cones ahead of Operation Brock cost £200,000 - and they were only in place for a day.
The temporary markers were placed along the M20 near Ashford on October 27 as the county prepared for Brexit to be implemented on October 31.
Despite a Brexit extension of three months being offered to the government, Highways England did not immediately rescind preparation work and Brock was put into action on October 28.
The next day the roads authority stated that the post-Brexit traffic alleviation measure was to be stood down.
The removal of cones forced an overnight closure of the motorway and Operation Brock - which would see lorries using a contraflow system between Ashford and Maidstone - has not been used since.
A Freedom of Information request from PoliticsHome has now revealed that the government spent more than £107,000 on work to activate Brock, and a further £88,000 deactivating the plan.
The costs have been put down to installing crossings in the central reservation and changing the road layout, as well as setting out 7,500 traffic cones and 350 signs.
Read more: All the latest news from Ashford
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