The construction of a major lorry park in Kent to replace Operation Stack won’t begin until 2018 at the earliest after a judicial review was announced for December.

Former Chancellor George Osborne pledged £250m to build a holding area for lorries at Stanford West in 2015, but campaigners opposed the plans and launched a judicial review against the decision.

The General Election stalled progress even further and now court proceedings won’t begin until 6 December.

Matthew Webb, Stanford parish council chairman, claimed momentum to build a lorry park was being lost.

“The longer it takes, the more chance someone will say why are we going ahead with it?

“There’s not a lot of political will or pressure on the DfT to do something about this. They are not being pushed by the transport secretary,” he said.

A DfT spokesman said the government remained committed to the scheme and that it would defend the judicial review case.

He added: “It would be inappropriate to comment further.”

It comes after recent warnings that the lorry park is urgently required.

Image: PA News

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