Brexit lorry holding areas at Portsmouth Port will 'lessen queues'

Customs documents will be needed by lorries crossing the English Channel at the end of the Brexit transition period on 1 January

Holding areas for lorries should lessen the likelihood of queues at Portsmouth Port after the Brexit transition period, a group set up to deal with changes at the border has said.

Customs documents for lorries crossing the Channel will change on 1 January.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum has reintroduced plans for "triage areas" away from the port.

Lorries arriving at the port without the correct documentation will be turned away, it said.

There are concerns that without frictionless trade, and paperwork checks for lorries waiting to enter the EU taking longer, any more than 13 lorries waiting would back up and block the motorway outside the port.

So-called triage areas are being set up for up to 40 lorries at Tipner on the edge of Portsmouth and up to a further 235 on the A31 between Alresford and Winchester.

A lorry processing point has been set up at Tipner

Neil Oden, chair of the forum and Hampshire's chief fire officer, said: "The changes to checks at the border would cause a traffic queue very quickly on the M275 and the surrounding area.

"With that operation in place we are confident that the impact will be lessened.

"There'll still be some impact, but there will be less likelihood of queues going into the port."

The government has given £2.5m to the local resilience forum, as well as £150,000 each to Hampshire County Council and Portsmouth and Southampton city councils as part of package of funding for areas that may experience disruption.