A Parliamentary debate has been held into Kent's traffic congestion woes which start at gridlocked Dover.

Dover's MP Charlie Elphicke called for a long-term solution and asked for the matter to be made national strategic priority.

He chaired the debate and pushed for earlier check-in before port traffic reaches Dover, proactive policing and highways management.

For Operation Stack, which affects the whole county, he called for lorry parks in the west of Kent.

"Dover, and the wider Kent area, is not a dumping ground for Port and Channel Tunnel traffic" - Charlie Elphicke, MP, in Parliament

In his speech, Mr Elphicke said: “The traffic gridlock we have seen in Dover has been intolerable.

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"Dover, and the wider Kent area, is not a dumping ground for Port and Channel Tunnel traffic.

"But for too long, gridlock and constant tailbacks in Dover have lacked a long-term solution.”

He added: “Operation Stack highlights the severe traffic problems in Kent. But it isn’t actually the main cause of gridlock in Dover.

"Operation Stack is not used very often – in fact, it’s only been used four times since 2010. Gridlock in Dover is a separate issue. It occurs at least once a week. The gridlock is down to a long term structural problem of Port and lorry management.

“A long-term structural problem needs a long-term solution,” he said.

In the long term, improvements need to be made in Dover because traffic currently skirts what will become the new St James's retail park. At busy times, Townwall and Snargate Streets are blighted by a wall of lorries at a stand-still.

Mr Elphicke said he'll do all he can to combat the problem.