Residents and drivers are invited to have their say on a proposed lorry park in Whitfield which aims to take up to 300 trucks off the district’s roads.

Belgian haulage firm Romac International is proposing to use a site in Palmerston Road within the Dover Port Zone as a secure 24-hour lorry parking facility.

Kent County Council has already welcomed the proposal on the basis that it supports their aim to increase the provision of lorry parking facilities in Kent. The decision now lies in the hands of the district’s planners.

A planning statement written by Tridax on behalf of Romac International says: “This site presents an opportunity to tackle the problem of overnight lorry parking in Kent and assist with the key objective one of the Kent County Council Freight Action Plan and look to work with the private sector for the delivery of new truckstops.

“The district of Dover has suffered for a long time with the illegal parking of HGV’s and was the subject of a special scrutiny (policy and performance) committee meeting on July 5, 2016 to discuss the issues relating to the overnight parking of heavy goods vehicles in residential areas of Dover.”

The proposed site is located in a primarily suburban area with a mix of already established residential and commercial and industrial uses such as Nagel Langdons, who import and export refrigerated goods.

The closest and potentially most sensitive premises are in Old Park Hill, only 132m away and Friars Way, 190m away.

Documents attached to the plans say acoustic measurements have already been undertaken at nearby residential premises to access the potential increase in noise.

The application comes after areas in the district such as Poulton Close, Dover, and Walmer’s Salisbury Road, alongside Gun Meadow, continue to be used as unofficial lorry parks.

It is also deemed that there is no room for expansion at the nearby Priority Freight Truck Stop in Menzies Road which already provides secure parking facilities for 100 trucks and is full every evening.

Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke said: “Everyone knows we need more parking for lorries using our port. Too often trucks park up in lay-bys or clog up residential streets.

“So it’s good to see plans moving forward to provide more lorry parking in the Dover Port Zone – keeping more trucks out of town.

“Yet the plans may encourage more HGVs to use the A2. This once again underlines why the A2 at Dover must be fully dualled.

“And we must ensure the M20 lorry park is also delivered.”

Share your comments at www.planning.dover.gov.uk/online-applications/ using reference number 16/01472.