by political editor Paul Francis

Widespread disruption caused by Operation Stack could be tackled by building a lorry park at the Port of Dover on reclaimed land from the sea, it was claimed today.

The Kent branch of the Campaign for The Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has set out a radical alternative to county council plans for a lorry park off the M20 at Aldington, near Ashford.

The CPRE says the park could be built as part of the expansion already planned for the port, which involves the construction of a second terminal at the Western Docks and a four-lane elevated road to access it.

The CPRE believes the expansion could incorporate a lorry park capable of holding 6,000 lorries - twice as many as could be held at the KCC option - and with the potential to be used as a lorry park all year round.

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CPRE director Dr Hilary Newport said the option was one that warranted serious consideration given the advantages it had over KCC's proposal.

"Our solution for the disruption caused by Operation Stack would be to reconsider the contribution of the Port of Dover itself to the growing amount of freight traffic on Kent’s roads, and its responsibility for the congestion that is caused periodically."

She added: "A planning application to construct extended port facilities at Dover is already under consideration.

"We consider that it would take very little extra construction work to reclaim an area of land in the channel – following the precedent set by Samphire Hoe – to create sufficient parking for 5000-6000 HGVs, freeing the M20 from the burden of Operation Stack and allowing the rest of Kent to go about its business unhampered by delays at the channel crossings."

Kent County Council is pursuing plans for a lorry park on a 70-acre site off the M20 that would hold about 3,000 lorries but it was recently told that the government was unprepared to fund the estimated £35m costs.

Operation Stack is implemented when there are problems crossing the Channel.

It involves using stretches of the M20 to park lorries until the port is able to re-open.