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
