The government plans to continue using a lorry holding site in Ashford for biosecurity checks – even though it is 22 miles from the Port of Dover.

Confirmation came in a letter from the minister in charge, Lord Douglas-Miller, to the chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) scrutiny committee Sir Robert Goodwill.

The committee had raised concerns about the distance from the Port of Dover to Ashford’s Sevington Border Control Post (BCP), as well as the funding for the Dover Port Authority (DPA) to carry out the inspection work.

The DPA has threatened legal action if the government did not back down and there could still be a court challenge.

But the minister replied in a five-page letter that funding of the service would continue up until April when it would stop and Port Health Authorities would then be able to charge traders to recover costs.

The announcement means the site at Bastion Point, Dover, will have no role in biosecurity checks.

In his letter, Lord Douglas-Miller says Sevington was “always designed as a site for checking high and medium-risk SPS goods. It has modern facilities and will be able to carry out checks on all types of consignments, including products of animal origin (POAO), plants and plant products and live animals.”

He said the government “engaged extensively with stakeholders” about plans to consolidate checks at Sevington and “carefully weighed up biosecurity requirements and the costs to business”.

Having one rather than two sites for checking goods would “substantially lower” the charge to users, as Sevington has the capacity to deliver the full range of checks on the volume of consignments anticipated to arrive via the Short Straits.

MPs on the EFRA select committee had also flagged up concerns about goods being able to evade checks at Sevington BCP.

But the minister in charge played down these anxieties, saying there was never any intention that all goods would be checked.

“Goods selected for inspection will not be legally cleared for sale or use within the UK until they have attended and been cleared at the BCP,” he said.

“Where the BCP has concerns, for example due to non-attendance, there are existing provisions for the goods to be referred for inland controls by the local authority.”