A new report says building a huge lorry park alongside the M20 will not solve the chaos caused by Operation Stack. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says pouring tarmac on to Kent's countryside at Aldington near Ashford will achieve nothing.

It has looked into the impact of Kent County Council’s suggested lorry park and says there will still be disruption on Kent’s roads when bad weather or industrial action blocks the ports.

The CPRE argues the £40 million pound cost - three times the amount spent annually on Kent’s roads, it says - will not provide value for taxpayers’ money.

The organisation is instead calling for other solutions, including extending the plans for a "quick moveable barrier" to keep traffic moving by diverting it to the other carriageway of the motorway.

The CPRE report says:

~ Lorries will continue to block the M20 and cause knock-on disruption on the A20 because truckers will be directed from the rest of the country to the new lorry park. It suggests a national alert system to halt the departure of lorries when the ports are blocked.

~ Even with efficient policing there would be a delay between the closing of the port of Dover and the opening of the lorry park. The two are 20 miles apart so lorries would continue to make their way south to the port and would then have to turn round and go back up the M20 to the Aldington site.

~ The lorry park would encourage further development and more green land would be lost to housing and roads.

CPRE Kent director Dr Hilary Newport said: "We hope the report makes it clear to everyone involved in the future of road freight in Kent that pouring tarmac over more of the countryside will achieve nothing."