Highways England’s consultation on options for a permanent Operation Stack solution will open to Kent residents and workers next week as plans for a site to replace the collapsed Stanford West project get under way.
Plans for a relief truck park at Stanford West were abandoned late last year after a judicial review concluded the DfT had not carried out the correct environmental checks to proceed with the site 2017.
At the time, transport secretary Chris Grayling said public consultation would begin on the relief site in early 2018.
A spokesman for Highways England confirmed that a public information exercise on options, “which will take a completely fresh look at long-term solutions for Operation Stack”, will run for people working, living and travelling in Kent between 11 June and 22 July.
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The option selected in the exercise will dictate when the project can move to wider public consultation, but the spokesman confirmed the earliest this could be is the end of 2018. The implementation date will also depend on the outcome of the exercise.
Highways England recently confirmed that the interim solution to Operation Stack – a contraflow system on the M20 when Stack is in place – will be ready by March 2019 as originally promised.
Image: PA News
