KCC leader Paul Carter

County Hall leader demands funds be spent on road repairs and transport projects

County Hall chiefs have demanded that money raised by Government’s proposed £10-a-day foreign lorry charge be ploughed back into road repairs and key transport schemes.

Leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter, said unless funds were handed to councils to fix roads damaged by HGVs, the charge would have no impact at all.

“A significant amount of money can now be raised, but if we can’t get a cast-iron guarantee that money will be given back to the councils that pay to fix the damage caused by foreign trucks, then it achieves nothing.”

He said KCC would also be putting pressure on the Government to allow funds to help with key transport schemes, such as the Third Thames Crossing and a solution to Operation Stack, which is when lorries are parked up on the M20 during disruption at the Port of Dover or Channel Tunnel.

The system causes parts of east Kent to grind to a halt and costs the UK haulage industry £1 million a day. Its management has also cost Kent Police and Highways Agency some £3 million since it was first implemented 20 years ago.

Cllr Carter’s comments came in response to a proposal set out this week by the Department for Transport which could see foreign lorry drivers charged £10 per day to use British roads.

English HGV drivers will also have to pay, but they will be reimbursed through reductions in vehicle tax or fuel duty.

Currently, this country is one of the only places in the EU which does not charge HGV drivers to use its roads.

The move by the Government is intended to level the playing field between UK hauliers and their cross-Channel counterparts, where British drivers have to pay to drive abroad.

KCC has been pushing since 1992 for a levy on foreign lorries coming through Dover, which could help pay for key road schemes.

The county shoulders the main HGV burden, with thousands coming to and from Europe travelling on the county’s roads every day.

Cllr Carter said one of the schemes he wanted to see funded – potentially through the proposed levy – was a lorry park near the M20 to cut congestion caused by Operation Stack. A site between junctions 10 and 11 has already been identified.

“We have the inconvenience of being the transport corridor,” he said.

“We will be lobbying very hard with the Department for Transport and transport minister Mike Penning to make sure the Operation Stack park and improvements to the M2 and M20 are made over the medium term.”

While Cllr Carter welcomed the levy proposal, he warned the system could place “unnecessary burdens” on British haulage firms.

“It’s good news for the UK freight industry and good news for taxpayers, who are currently footing the bill for damage caused to our roads by foreign lorries,” he said.

“I’d also urge a more pragmatic, less bureaucratic approach for UK lorry drivers. If hauliers can claim the charge back, why make them pay in the first place?

“Surely a simpler system can be found that levies a charge on entry to the UK?”

Under EU law, however, the scheme cannot discriminate between UK-registered vehicles and foreign lorries, meaning both have to pay the daily charge.

MP for Folkestone and Hythe Damian Collins who has been pushing for a solution to Operation Stack, welcomed the proposal and said it would help create a more level playing field.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) also welcomed the move.

An RHA spokesman said: “This scheme is good news for UK transport operators and should be welcomed also by motorists, many of whom have complained that foreign hauliers pay nothing for using our roads.”

But the Freight Transport Association (FTA) was more cautious.

Chief economist at FTA Simon Chapman said: “As ever the Devil is in the detail and FTA will be making sure that the final proposal works for, and not against, the industry.”

“For this system to work it needs to be both revenue neutral and not administratively burdensome for UK hauliers.”

The consultation will run for three months.