Part of a lorry park being considered as a solution to Operation Stack could be up and running by next summer, say government officials.

The surprise suggestion that a site earmarked for a new park, capable of holding 3,600 HGVs at Stanford off the M20 near Folkestone, could be partially in action came at a meeting of the transport select committee yesterday.

Highways England chief executive Jim O’Sullivan told MPs: “We would very much like to have part of it opened by the summer. We would very much like to have some parts of the scheme available going into 2017.”

His admission came as a surprise as the government has yet to decide which site it prefers for what has been dubbed “holding area” for up to 3,600 HGVs.

But the transport minister Andrew Jones appeared to reinforce the idea when he said that he expected to be in a position to decide which site would best within a few weeks.

That will alarm residents and opponents of the scheme, who have already voiced concerns that the plan is being rushed through.

During the cross-party meeting, Mr Jones rejected claims the plan was a knee jerk reaction to last summer’s gridlock.

The scale of the potential environmental impact the site was vividly underlined during the meeting.

It heard how the park will require 500,000 tonnes of tarmac to lay down on the site.

And the potential impact of rain will mean that there will have to be a drainage system capable of absorbing the equivalent of ten Olympic-sized swimming pools daily when it rains.

It also emerged that the potential cost to Kent Police of managing the traffic off the motorway on to the site is likely to be much the same as it is now.

Mr Jones said: “This is not a knee jerk response it is a solution to a problem.This is a solution which has been arrived at after all the options were looked at.”

But he acknowledged the park would not mean there would be no disruption again but it would “add resilience to the Kent motorway network.

Mr O’Sullivan, said: “ We looked at a number of solutions and decided it was a single site. We looked at up-grading the M2 and A2.

"The absolute priority was to get trucks off the M20. We went back to the Treasury and said that a piece of civil engineering on this scale would be up to £250m.”

Asked if the DfT had examined the cost-benefit of all options, he said: “We have done some but it is hard to quantify. As you get one day of Stack, then two or three..it is hard to quantify the cumulative impacts.”

He added: “We are aware of the significant impact on residents. It needs to be secure. We are being asked to do this on an urgent basis.”

MPs pressed on whether the lorry park would be big enough to cope with the projected increase in HGV traffic.

They were told by Jon Griffiths, of the Department for Transport:“It is difficult to predict because what Operation Stack is accommodating is a reduced capacity for crossing the channel.”

Highways England is examining responses to a public consultation before deciding which option for a park it will support.

There has been growing criticism of the scheme, with both the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel expressing reservations about its viability.