Chancellor urged to pay for lorry park to relieve Operation Stack

Council leader Paul Carter said Operation Stack had caused misery to people in Kent

The Chancellor George Osborne must set aside funding for a long-term solution to Operation Stack in his forthcoming Autumn Statement, Kent County Council leader Paul Carter has said.

He told the Transport Select Committee that Operation Stack - where parts of the M20 motorway are closed and turned into a lorry park - "decimated" Kent's economy during the summer.

It has been used 32 times in 2015.

Mr Carter said it would cost £150m to build a lorry park at junction 11.

'Thorough inconvenience'

Operation Stack was used following strikes by French workers, migrant activity and disruption to rail operations.

The council estimates it has cost the Kent economy £45m and Mr Carter said the Kent tourist industry had a 20% drop in business.

Speaking to the committee, he said: "Kent has all the drawbacks of being a corridor to Europe with no advantages - it is a thorough inconvenience to the Kent economy."

David Brewer, from Highways England, said there was a need to find a way to contain up to 7,000 lorries while allowing transport on local roads to flow.

He added that the earlier a solution could be found would be in autumn 2016.

During Operation Stack lorries waiting to cross the Channel are parked on the M20

How Stack works

• Operation Stack is co-ordinated by Kent Police and Highways England.

• The M20 is closed to house lorries bound for Dover, other traffic is diverted on other roads to get around Kent.

• It has three phases, closure of junctions eight to nine creates a park for up to 2,100 lorries, nine to 11 adds another 1,500 capacity and closure of the London-bound carriageway between eight and nine makes a total of 5,700.

• Currently the M20 is closed from junctions eight to 11 coast bound.