Kent County Council leader says government intervention is needed to prevent travel problems
05:00, 19 April 2022
updated: 15:03, 19 April 2022
The leader of Kent County Council has urged the government to intervene to prevent traffic gridlock on our roads.
Thousands of trucks were affected by Operation Brock last week as they were forced to queue on the side of the M20 when heading to Dover.
KCC leader says government intervention is needed to prevent more traffic problems
A combination of things - including the Easter holidays, P&O routes being suspended and bad weather - have led to congestion and traffic problems.
On Saturday, neighbours protested about the effect the Dover Tap scheme was having on them.
Frustrated families told of being woken up by truckers who had been kept waiting next to the A20 at Aycliffe blaring their horns day and night.
KCC leader Roger Gough (Con) is calling for action to tackle the issues.
"We have long-made the argument to the government for a series of much bigger changes, and that includes highway improvements and support in relation to lorry parks," he said.
"I think there’s a question about where and in what stage vehicles are held outside Kent - we have been making that case to government for quite some time.
"I think Operation Brock can clearly only do what it can do.
"I don’t think anyone would pretend that we are satisfied with that as a situation."
Cllr Gough says as long as there are more vehicles coming into the county than are able to leave via ferries and the Eurotunnel then "you will always have this problem".
"It’s a much bigger issue than the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF) can solve on its own," he added.
The KRF is a partnership of organisations which have a role in emergency planning and responding to an emergency.
Highways bosses enforced the Dover Traffic Access Protocol - known as Dover Tap - on Friday, which queues lorries on the nearside of the A20 outside the town.
But at 5pm yesterday the Port of Dover announced on Twitter the temporary traffic management initiative had been lifted.
Operation Brock normally has the capacity for about 2,000 lorries, but it had been holding up to 4,000, according to KRF.
