Council bosses hope the opening of Europe’s largest truck stop in Ashford next week will put an end to illegal lorry parking in the town.

GSE Building & Civil Engineering Ltd has constructed the new Ashford International Truckstop on the Waterbrook Park estate in Sevington, creating enough space for up to 650 HGVs.

It is thought the arrival of the site, which has been built just a stone’s throw from the existing truck stop, will reduce pressure on other areas of the town, particularly the Henwood Industrial Estate.

Unlike other parts of Ashford including the Orbital Park, Henwood is not covered by legislation which allows Ashford Borough Council to clamp lorries parked illegally.

But the council's deputy leader Cllr Paul Bartlett (Con) thinks the opening of the Sevington facility will markedly improve HGV parking in the town.

“Without a doubt it should be transformational,” he said.

“There will be no need for lorries to park in Henwood, Cobbs Wood or anywhere else in Ashford.

“I don’t think the fee to stay at the lorry park will be detrimental; it is a much more amenable place to park than an industrial estate would be, with shower and eating facilities.”

At the current Ashford International Truckstop, HGV drivers are charged £32.50 for a stay of between two and 24 hours.

The existing 300-space site is earmarked for housing and will close when the new facility in Arrowhead Road opens to drivers on Tuesday.

Ashford MP Damian Green says he hopes the site will “very much alleviate the situation” at Henwood, where as many as 12 lorries a night have been spotted on the estate.

“Lorry drivers are saying there is nowhere to park but so there will be (when the new lorry park opens),” he said.

“It will hopefully attract more people into truck driving, supporting the thought that there will be a decent standard of comfort in the job.

“On one hand, some of them are doing it (parking on roads) to try and avoid parking charges and that’s not acceptable, but again on the whole you’ve got to provide places for them to park.”

Today, Mr Green will join Baroness Vere of Norbiton at the official opening of the new lorry park, which features a gym, coffee station and shop.

At the event, Cllr Bartlett says he will speak to Lady Vere – a Conservative frontbencher in the House of Lords and minister at the Department for Transport – about the Henwood parking issue.

He wants the clamping powers, where Ashford council can fine drivers £185, to be extended to the estate, which is home to the town’s fire station and scores of businesses.

“It’s a long-standing issue – there have been complaints about it since I became a councillor – but it has got worse recently,” Cllr Bartlett said.

“It wasn’t as bad last year but I think that was unique with the lockdown and goods not being moved around as much.

“As we have come out of lockdown, there have certainly been many more reports of lorries parking there.

“What I have been told is that some of the lorry drivers’ behaviour is anti-social and the people who work on the estate have to clean up the mess left behind when the lorries go.

“Not all the drivers are like it, but there have been lots of complaints about parking and the impact it has on the amenity of the area.”

Earlier this year, the site of the new truck stop was used by the government to deal with customs checks on hauliers and to ensure they had the correct documentation.

It was a stopgap after heavy rain delayed construction of the post-Brexit Sevington facility, but it cost the government millions in rent payments to GSE, the site’s owners.

On Saturday, a free public open day will be held at the site between 10am and 2pm.

A vintage American truck will be on display, with face painting and an inflatable play area also on offer.

Away from the truck stop, Cllr Bartlett says he also hopes to talk to Lady Vere about the lack of signs to the Sevington Inland Border Facility, which has seen truckers ending up in Mersham and the surrounding area.