by political editor Paul Francis

Foreign lorry drivers could face a £10 toll to use motorways in a move that could help boost funding for key transport projects in the region and pay for repairs to damaged roads.

The government is planning to consult on introducing a British equivalent of the European vignette system in which foreign drivers will have to pay a fee to use roads.

The idea of a toll for HGVs has long been backed by county transport chiefs and MPs in the county, who believe it could be a way of helping fund major schemes such as a lorry park for Operation Stack and a new Thames crossing.

There are also hopes that more money could come Kent’s way to pay for repairs and maintenance of roads that are seeing growing numbers of foreign hauliers.

But the Kent Green party said any scheme should be used to encourage HGVs off the roads and to use other forms of transport. It also said money should not be used to pay for projects that would see more lorries on the road network.

Spokesman Steve Dawe said: "Any money accrued from such a scheme has to go on road repairs, however long it may take. Road projects take very large sums of money to deliver relatively small things whereas you can do more to promote sustainable transport solutions using small sums across a large area."

Cllr Bryan Sweetland, KCC’s cabinet member for transport, said: "We have to continue to lobby the transport minister to get a proportion of that money into Kent to increase maintenance and sort out some of the damage foreign lorries have caused."

Foreign hauliers drive around the UK for free, while UK firms pay road tolls or daily rates to drive across Europe.

Under any scheme, every lorry driver would have to pay a toll fee but British hauliers would get a refund.

Liam Northfield, from the Freight Transport Association, said: "The devil's in the details. How it works remains to be seen.

"What's very important is that we don't increase costs on domestic hauliers becuase they are paying far more for fuel than those on the continent."