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June/July 2017 Truck and Track 11
BUSINESS NEWS
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“There are over 300,000 HGVs on the
roads of the UK, all transporting goods
up and down the country, keeping the
economy going. With strict regulations
in place to ensure that all drivers are
well rested and alert while they drive,
the availability of suitable places to stop
is incredibly important to keep things
moving smoothly. However, with the
number of HGVs increasing, there is a
substantial lack of suitable rest places for
drivers.
Hard-pressed drivers are often forced to park up in unsafe areas
such as lay-bys where they risk theft and criminal damage to
their vehicles, an outcome that is all too common. They have
also been forced to park in more residential areas, creating an
unnecessary nuisance to local residents.
In South-East England, especially between the M25 and the Port
of Dover, the lack of suitable sites is particularly problematic. In
2015, when French ferry workers went on strike and Operation
Stack was enforced, tailbacks for miles and miles transformed
the region’s roads into de facto truck parks.
A site at Otterpool Quarry in Sellindge (a village on the
A20 between Ashford and Folkestone in Kent) began to
accommodate some of the vehicles and is now in the process of
being shut down by Shepway District Council owing to lack of
planning permission.
The site’s owner, Pat Breen, is in a battle with the authorities to
keep the site open and available, having applied for retroactive
planning permission to help his case. Drivers have to leave
the M20 in order to find somewhere to park up and, with a
dwindling amount of available space, they will take to clogging
up lay-bys along the A20 and nearby areas.
A determination by local Councils and NIMBYs to close down
what few sites are available is frankly untenable: those trucks
still need somewhere to stop!
The solution favoured by our esteemed Government is to build a
vast new lorry park at Junction 11 of the M20 in Kent, capable
of accommodating an impressive 3,600 HGVs over an area of
250 acres. This plan was announced by Transport Secretary
Patrick McLoughlin, a few weeks before vacating his position
amid the fallout from the Brexit vote. The price tag is thought
to be £250 million but, as with all large-scale public works, it’s
reasonable to expect a dramatic increase in practice. However,
the plans were put on hold pending the outcome of a Legal
Review.
Campaigners cite the lack of consultation with residents,
destruction of local countryside and increased pollution as the
main problems around the planning and construction of the
new lorry park. Let’s not forget that this park is intended just for
overflow parking if and when Operation Stack is triggered. This
seems to be a hell of a lot of money to spend on a facility that
would be used only now and then!
Accordingly, instead of focussing its efforts on one ridiculous
truck park which will face endless and vehement local
opposition, why doesn’t the Government look at the land they
already own?
Throughout the motorway network in the UK, the Government
owns 23 different sites, all initially earmarked for use
as Motorway Service Areas (MSAs), yet to this day they
remain unused. Whilst these sites are probably too small to
accommodate a modern MSA, they are more than big enough
to form parking areas for HGVs.
We approached the Government in 2012 to ask it to release its
completely unused sites, to offer more parking and convenience
for commercial vehicle drivers across the UK. It didn’t, and all
that it’s managed to do since then is to dig up one site and grass
it over.
All that’s needed is a little bit of forward thinking! Our
Government all too often exercises its powers in hindsight.
In this case, a proper consideration of what it can do for the
haulage and logistics industry going forward would be useful
– anticipating our needs for the years to come, rather than
focussing on an over-the-top project which will have little
impact on the wider problems of the industry. A white elephant
if ever there was one!
A topical comment by Chris Billing, Director of SNAP Account, which is responsible for
managing the parking needs of more than 50,000 UK and foreign registered HGVs
A park in Kent for housing a white
elephant
Chris Billing of SNAP
Account