Operation Stack

Ministers say Kent will receive none of the proposed tax - despite this county shouldering the burden of foreign lorries

HIGHWAYS chiefs are putting increasing pressure on government to secure cash from the proposed foreign lorry tax after ministers admitted Kent would not get a single penny.

Around 87 per cent of all international road haulage that comes to the UK arrives via Dover, travelling on the M20 or M2, but despite the county shouldering this burden the Government said none of the money generated under plans would go to Kent County Council.

Tory councillors have vowed to push on to ensure the county receives some of the funds, warning that future development at Dover and Calais ports would increase the number of foreign lorries and cause further problems and expense to Kent’s taxpayers.

KCC has long campaigned for help funding a solution to the roads chaos caused by Operation Stack – when lorries are parked on the M20 during disruption at cross-Channel ports – as well as help paying for damage caused to the M20, M2 and other main roads used by hauliers.

Hope was raised last month when ministers announced they were looking at charging foreign lorry drivers to use UK roads.

But KCC highways member Cllr Bryan Sweetland said none of the money generated would go to Kent.

KCC chiefs are now stepping up pressure to ensure funds are directed to the county.

Cllr Sweetland said: “As we made clear in our Growth without Gridlock transport strategy, we will seek a proportion of the revenue generated from this proposal to fund improvements and ensure greater resilience in Kent’s strategic road infrastructure.

“The Government forecast that from 2015-16, the scheme will generate net revenue of around £23 million.

“I have heard the roads minister recently assert that none of this money will be going to KCC.

“But the fact remains that 87 per cent of all international road haulage that arrives in the UK arrives via the Dover Strait and with the planned port development at both Dover and Calais, this figure will increase further.

“Foreign lorries do not contribute a penny to the Treasury coffers, leaving the taxpayer – in particular Kent’s council taxpayers – to foot the bill for the external costs they cause.

“To compound the situation, foreign trucks fill up with diesel bought outside the UK, where fuel duty is far lower, so not only do they avoid contributing to the UK economy at the pumps, they also put UK hauliers at a massive commercial disadvantage.”

KCC highways chiefs are now also looking to lobby ministers for the possible development of a fuel station in the duty free zone at Dover port, offering European levels of duty so to stop foreign lorry drivers filling up abroad.

They will be meeting with roads minister Mike Penning in three weeks’ time to call for a share of revenue to lessen the impacts that foreign lorries have on the county’s roads.

KCC leader Cllr Paul Carter said the authority had spent 20 years asking for a foreign lorry charging system.

“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.