Work on a major improvement scheme to Dover’s Eastern Docks will start this autumn.

The £11.5 million improvement scheme will create space for more than 200 freight vehicles to help relieve congestion on roads leading to the port.

The project will create the new freight assembly area involving the demolition of some buildings, including the travel centre.

It is the first part of a five-year plan to upgrade the Eastern Docks and enable the port to “manage increasing traffic volumes while diminishing the effect on the local road network”.

Nigel Bodell, the harbour board’s head of infrastructure, has told members of the Port Consultative Committee, that the work will begin in September, and this phase could take around 18 months to complete.