Brexit: Concerns over M6 lorry customs queues at new inland border

Warrington Borough Council said it was worried about queues forming on the M6

Queues of lorries could form on the M6 when a new post-Brexit customs facility opens in Cheshire next month, a council has warned.

Some freight from Ireland will use the "inland border" in Warrington when the EU exit transition period ends.

Warrington Borough Council chief executive Steven Broomhead said the government should spend £2.5m improving the roads to avoid "gridlock".

The government said it would consider traffic mitigation in the area.

The border post is being located inland because the ports at Liverpool, Heysham and Holyhead do not have room to expand to cope with the extra customs infrastructure that will be needed from 1 January.

The council estimated there would be up to 700 lorries passing to and from the site each day.

Steven Broomhead said the government should spend £2.5m improving roads in the area

Mr Broomhead said they were "very, very concerned" there would be "tailbacks of lorries all the way back onto the motorway system" unless road improvements were made.

Building work is taking place at the former Shearings coach depot in Appleton, two miles from the Lymm interchange.

The council has requested £2.5m from the government for motorway junction improvements, cameras and signage.

"This application wasn't determined by the local authority, it's been imposed on us and the best they could really do is give us some financial support to get some traffic measures in", Mr Broomhead said.

The road approaching the inland port is already used by hundreds of lorries per day

The customs site is next to the headquarters of Mark Thompson Transport, which is used by 200 lorries every day.

The firm's Paul Pryor said: "If vehicles were to be stopped on the road trying to get onto that site, it would create chaos.

"Most of our deliveries are time sensitive and we need access to the motorway, that's why we're here. It would really cause us some problems."

Paul Pryor from Mark Thompson Transport said queues outside its depot would cause problems

The site and six other inland facilities were given permission using special government orders which allowed them to bypass local councils' planning departments, meaning normal traffic assessments were not carried out.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs said traffic assessments had been carried out and the impact on traffic would be "minimal".

HMRC guidance said: "When the site is operational, monitoring and reporting of potential traffic effects on neighbouring roads caused by vehicles travelling to and from the Warrington Inland Border Facility may be carried out if required."