Council bosses recruited more than twice the number of employees needed to carry out health checks on lorries transporting food and other hazardous products, it has emerged.

Ashford Borough Council was acting on the advice provided by government officials at the border control post, which is to be located at the Sevington Inland Border Facility site next to Junction 10a in Ashford.

But a question mark hangs over the plan, which it emerged this week will cost £70m, with the former Brexit Opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg deciding last year the starting date for import controls should be delayed again and will not be brought in until some point this year.

And now the absence of any schedule, which has seen the site laying vacant, has led the council to identify it as a potential budget risk.

According to council budget papers, the authority had offered 125 jobs to staff but Defra then advised only 54 would be required.

The council has since relocated staff to other roles but there remains uncertainty about whether that will be temporary or permanent and if they are kept on, who would meet salary costs

It also flags up that “there is a risk that any further changes will result in more costs being transferred back to the general fund. Once the service is up and running it is anticipated to be self-funding through the charging of fees.”

Meanwhile, Defra has said that it will not release any information about the costs of setting up a similar facility in Dover.

It responded to a Freedom of Information request made by KentOnline saying that it was not in the public interest to reveal how much taxpayers' money had been spent equipping a state-of-the-art facility which remains mothballed.

The proposal to relocate the existing Port Health Authority to Whitfield was stalled last year when the government performed a U-turn on its plan for post-Brexit controls.

It announced that it was not proceeding with the relocation after a review concluded the facility was not needed - despite work having started at the site.

In addition, the government is known to have bought state-of-the-art equipment to implement post-Brexit controls.

'It is time for the government to confront these dangers and bring them to an end and restore order'

In a formal rejection notice, Defra said there is a stronger public interest in withholding the information because “it is important that Defra has a safe space in which officials can operate and discuss policy options relating to the introduction of SPS controls and publication of the final controls model, both of which are due to happen in May 2023”.

It added: “Release of the information requested at this moment in time would risk inhibiting officials and Ministers from having full, frank and open discussions as part of the process of formulating policy.”

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said last year in a debate that the government appeared not to understand why physical borders will always be needed.

She said: “The smuggling of illegal goods and people is rife at Dover and shocking. It is time for the government to confront these dangers and bring them to an end and restore order.

“That includes a review of the decision to mothball the Dover Port health facility and reinvestment in port health staff.”

The decision not to publish the expenditure is at odds with the publication of a grant of £2.8m to Dover council to cover post-Brexit transition costs.

Port health controls are managed by councils which enforce regulations for central government.

These include checks on imported food, inspecting ships for food safety and infectious disease controls as well as general public and health protection within the port environment.

The government was warned last year the country could face the outbreak of a devastating disease or a major bio-security incident if checks at the Port of Dover on incoming goods were not implemented.

The warning was made by the Conservative leader of Dover council in a letter sent in May to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.