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Written Question
Road Traffic Control: Dover
Tuesday 21st June 2022

Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ease congestion arising from lorry traffic departing Dover.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Recent increase in traffic queues for freight and passenger travel in Kent was caused by a combination of factors. Disruption began because of adverse weather conditions causing delays to sailings from Port of Dover and the situation was significantly exacerbated by the well-documented actions of P&O Ferries which account for over 35% of the market share of Dover. Coupled with the brief cessation of Eurotunnel services due to a breakdown and an increase in passenger and freight traffic, disruption quickly grew in Kent.

The Kent Resilience Forum’s (KRF’s) traffic management and enforcement plans, including activation of Operation Brock on the M20, were put in place in late March to ensure continued flow of vehicles through Kent to ports whilst also trying to maintain local mobility as much as possible. Additional resilience measures were put in place, which had a positive impact on maintaining throughput to the ports and keeping local roads moving.

Over the May half-term and Jubilee Weekend, there was no significant disruption on the Kent strategic road network. Operation Brock has now been deactivated as of 5 June, but the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF) will reconsider deploying it ahead of the start of the school summer holidays.

To further ease congestion in Dover, we are strengthening enforcement against those hauliers deviating from Operation Brock and causing gridlock on local roads, and greater usage of freight parking capacity at Sevington Inland Border Facility and Ashford Truck Stop when Operation Brock is reaching its capacity. These measures will help to keep the M20 open to all vehicles and enable local and passenger traffic to keep flowing throughout Kent.

Written Question
Railways
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Adam Holloway (Conservative - Gravesham)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether an assessment has been made of the potential merits of extending the Thameslink service from Ebbsfleet to Essex to help reduce pressure from the Dartford crossing.

Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Ebbsfleet International is served by Southeastern and HS1, and I can confirm the Department has not assessed, nor has it asked Southeastern to investigate, the feasibility of running services from Ebbsfleet International to Essex.

Thameslink services do not serve Ebbsfleet International at present. This would only be possible with significant investment in infrastructure, as there is no railway currently connecting Ebbsfleet International to the Thameslink route.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"Mr Deputy Speaker, perhaps you will pass on my thanks to Mr Speaker for granting this important debate. I welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Copeland (Trudy Harrison), to her place, although I am sorry that the roads Minister is a Member of the other …..."
Adam Holloway - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"Yes, of course, I will give way. I did mention my hon. Friend’s constituency...."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"That is an extremely good point, and I wish that I had included it in my speech. If I have to speak about this again, I will make that point. I thank my hon. Friend and I totally agree with her.

This all became about economic development. The original purpose …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"Absolutely. In a sense, my hon. Friend’s residents and those over in Essex are having it very badly with all the additional roads to be built as well, so I completely concur. We have established that when Dartford is gridlocked, so will Gravesend be, and her area at Ockendon.

With …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"The A2...."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"My hon. Friend mentioned, as I should have, that when the wind blows the bridge going from north to south can be closed; that was one of the arguments deployed in favour of having the second crossing further down. But I would have thought that that could be simply remedied. …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"If my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) had had more time, I think she would have made a point about why on earth all these freight trains carrying trucks from the continent offload at Folkestone. They should rumble on north. That is an absolute no-brainer and we …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 24 Mar 2022
Lower Thames Crossing

"This is the muddled thinking we have got to: if we build another crossing further down, it will take the pressure off Dartford. However, it will not take the pressure off Dartford because people will still want to use the Dartford crossing. Spending £8.2 billion to build that white elephant …..."
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