A public consultation has been launched into proposals for a new lorry parking area as an alternative to Operation Stack in Kent.

It comes after an announcement by the chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement that £250m was being made available to buy space in the county for HGVs, which could be used when Operation Stack would normally be invoked.

The preferred site is at Stanford in Hythe, but the Highways England consultation will seek views on other potential sites too and  the ways in which a truck stop could be used.

Each option would help to prevent the need for the M20 to be closed when there is disruption to cross-Channel services.

Natalie Chapman, FTA head of policy for London and the South East, said: “We need something as quickly as possible in case stack is invoked again - and it will be at some point.

It has to be something that means we don’t have to completely close the M20, which was our big criticism in the summer.”

The consultation runs until 25 January.

Image: Press Association

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