Last Friday I joined Jacques Gounon, the Chairman of Eurotunnel, to officially open the new access area for road freight joining the tunnel’s services at Folkestone. This completes a major investment from Eurotunnel in improving the speed and efficiency of its operations in Kent, that will help both freight, and passengers travelling in private cars and buses. This new freight access area also has the capacity to hold up to 300 lorries if there are delays to check-in at the tunnel, greatly helping to reduce the now regular problem of lorries queueing back on to the M20.
The ability to hold lorries in this area is also a useful contribution to the debate on how we best manage road freight in Kent. It does not of course provide a solution to Operation Stack, as when phases 1 and 2 of Stack are enforced there can be up to 4,000 lorries being held on the M20. That is why we still need to invest in major off road parking facilities for lorries, as has been proposed by Highways England, through their recent consultation. During this consultation people asked whether companies like Eurotunnel should be doing more themselves, to help manage congestion and queuing traffic better. This new investment in Kent underlines their commitment to do this, but a solution also requires government funding into what is a major piece of national infrastructure, to provide the robust facilities that are needed.
Investment in our roads is not just about dealing with the pressures we face today, but anticipating future demand as well. We know that road freight is predicted to grow in volume considerably over the next decade. Eurotunnel have reported that the demand for their services has already increased by 6% since the Operation Stack crisis of last summer. The government’s announcement that it is to proceed with a third Thames crossing linking Kent and Essex is also welcome news. We have lobbied the Department for Transport and Highways England that this investment should be supported by the completion of the dual carriageway along the A2 to Dover, allowing better management of road freight into the port.
The effective management of traffic through Dover and the Channel Tunnel to the continent is important for Kent, but also for our whole economy. This is a vital trade route as we export more goods to Europe that any other part of the world. We need to ensure that it remains free flowing, to support legitimate trade, as well as effectively policed from any potential breaches of security.
The debate about our trading relationship with the rest of Europe is going to be of great importance in the coming weeks and months. On Friday this week, the Prime Minister is expected to conclude his renegotiation of Britain’s membership of the European Union, the terms of which will be presented for the whole country to vote on in a referendum, most probably to be held this summer. I look forward to being able to discuss this in my column next week, once we now the terms of the deal that has been agreed.
