Conservative councillor David Brazier made the suggestion during an appearance on Kent Online’s KMTV video news service.
Brazier was quizzed on whether the UK Government was doing enough to remedy Kent’s traffic problems, to which the councillor replied: “The government is not pulling its weight. I have said before there is no question to which Operation Brock is the answer.”
Earlier this month, Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke, who represents the Dover & Deal constituency, said it was time for more infrastructure to be built to bolster Kent’s roads and Dover Port.
It’s time to deliver on the infrastructure needed for Kent roads and our Dover Port.
Resilient roads and strong borders are right for Dover, Kent and UK Plc. pic.twitter.com/7m7flrp5hK
— Natalie Elphicke MP (@NatalieElphicke) July 29, 2022
However, during the aforementioned interview, Brazier appeared to distance himself slightly from Elphicke by saying that the infrastructure should be located elsewhere:
“What is needed is major investment, not on the highways, because there’s plenty of capacity, but to get the traffic through the port and onto ships and over to France. That’s where it all goes wrong,” said the Tory councillor.
When asked for more detail on what was needed, Brazier replied:
“We have several ideas. One is to process, do all the documentary work, off-site. Perhaps somewhere between Folkestone and Dover. Another way would be to close the port [of Dover] down and build it somewhere sensible, not on the edge of a town.”
The interviewer, clearly surprised by Brazier’s proposition, then interrupts by saying “Hold on a minute, that’s pretty radical stuff.”
The Kent councillor replied: “We talk to the Government very, very often, and they have no answers at the moment.”
Brazier isn’t the first councillor from Kent to suggest the county’s freight traffic issues could be remedied by infrastructure being located somewhere else.
Back in March 2021, Barbara Cooper of Kent County Council said that lorry parks should be built outwith Kent to move congestion to another area:
“We would be unable to implement all stages of Operation Stack because Sevington compromises the latest stages. We are working closely with the DfT to work out what the plans are for traffic management going forward. Ideally we would like sites outside Kent because then congestion would be outside Kent.”
Photo: Alexey Komarov / Flickr / CC BY 2.0