Calais crisis: Manston Airport group threatens lorry park blockade

The airport closed in May 2014 with the loss of 150 jobs

Campaigners fighting to save a disused airport have threatened to use direct action to stop it being used as a lorry park during cross-Channel disruption.

It was announced on Tuesday that Manston Airport would be used to hold freight traffic in the short-term.

The aim is to ease congestion caused by Operation Stack, under which Dover-bound lorries are parked on the M20.

Ruth Bailey, of Save Manston Airport, said it was likely the group would block entrances and lie on the runway.

'Blocking entrances'

She said: "It's going to completely block all the roads. People are going to think twice about coming to our beautiful beaches.

"I think it's very likely that a lot of the group will be taking direct action, which will mean blocking the entrances, laying on the runway if necessary."

The ongoing situation in the French port involving migrants and striking ferry workers has led to Operation Stack being implemented on 28 days this summer.

Transport minister Lord Ahmad said using the airport as a holding area was a viable temporary solution to keeping traffic and goods moving.

'Far fewer lorries'

Objections have also come from Dover council, which said the plan involved sending HGVs on a 50-mile diversion from the M20 junction 7, up the A249 Detling Hill, and then on to the M2 to Manston.

Trucks would then have to travel from Manston on the A256 single carriageway to the port, which could block Dover, Sandwich, Deal and rural villages, the council said.

RAC chief engineer David Bizley also said the road from Manston to Dover was "not a good one" and would disrupt local traffic.

He said anything that got lorries off the road was good for motorists, but he added: "Let's hope a permanent solution can be found."

Dover council also criticised proposals to prioritise lorries carrying perishable loads, claiming it would complicate the process.

That measure has been welcomed by the Freight Transport Association, which said it anticipated a maximum of 200 trucks a day would be given priority.

Conservative MPs for South Thanet and North Thanet, Craig Mackinlay and Roger Gale have said Manston is "geographically unsuitable", and UKIP-run Thanet District Council and UKIP leader Nigel Farage are also against the plan.

Dover and Deal Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke said said lorry parks should be on the route to the port - and sited on main motorways - and not on a detour.

"I am concerned the result could be gridlock in east Kent," he added.

Damian Collins, Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe, welcomed the decision, saying the use of Manston in the short-term was a "step in the right direction", but he said there still needed to be a system that allowed traffic to run in both directions on the M20 when Stack was in place.

Kent's police and crime commissioner Ann Barnes said she was pleased the government had come up with an interim solution.

She said the plan risked extra congestion on other roads, but Kent Police had worked hard with partners on the feasibility and safety of the proposal.

Significantly more police resources would be required, she added.

She said Kent Police would continue to use mutual aid - officers loaned from neighbouring forces - at an additional cost.