Sandwich has a plan of action to monitor traffic diversions to the lorry park at Manston Airport during Operation Stack.

The town council and Sandwich Town Team hopes to set up a group of volunteers, in a similar scheme to Lorry Watch, to monitor traffic from the Port of Dover.

Town and district councillor MJ Holloway said port traffic would be marshalled by Kent Police but the aim of the volunteers would be to monitor everyday vehicles as it is believed local HGVs trying to avoid Stack would be likely to divert through the town.

Cllr Holloway said: “We struggle in Sandwich with just normal traffic flows and HGVs diverting into Sandwich. It’s logical to expect that normal traffic will look to divert and the normal traffic will not be monitored by police.”

It is believed convoys will be coming along the A256 and on to the Thanet Way in relays and not all at once.

Cllr Holloway, who is also a member of the Town Team, says the group already has the experience of monitoring traffic and will set up a consistent plan with pre-agreed locations. They hope to accurately show the impact on the town and the villages.

The aim is to work with Wingham, Woodnesborough, Worth, Eastry and Ash parish councils.

Cllr Nigel Collor, portfolio holder for access and licensing at Dover District Council, said Eastry bypass is too narrow for a convoy of trucks and keeping Sandwich bypass with free-flowing traffic is essential.

He said: “We are already working with Sandwich Town Council and KCCs Tim Read on ways to lessen vehicle movements in the town centre of Sandwich.

“The Ash roundabout is an extremely busy part of the network most of the day and to keep traffic flowing here three police officers would be essential – we have learned this from our experiences when the Open golf championships have been held in Sandwich.

“We shortly come to a dual carriageway approaching the former Pfizer site. Although a dual carriageway, there are three roundabouts into the Discovery Park that some trucks could try to use to get ahead of the queue so one police officer at each of these would be needed. Discovery Park is noted as being the best performing Enterprise Zone in the country attracting businesses from across the world so it would not be advantageous to have inconsiderate truck drivers with some of the ‘habits’ spoiling the great work that has been done here.”

He has estimated that there would need to be at least 26 police officers on duty 24 hours a day to ensure everything runs smoothly, he claims this would mean more than 100 officers for the Dover district alone.