Lords EU Committee to hear evidence on end-of-transition traffic management in Kent

These evidence sessions are part of a series of evidence sessions the Committee is holding on end-of-transition readiness.

The session will be held remotely and streamed on Parliament TV.

At 12.30pm the Committee will hear from:

• Duncan Buchanan, Director of Policy for England and Wales, Road Haulage Association
• Nick Harris, Operations Executive Director at Highways England
• Adrian Jones, National Officer, Unite
• Claire Nix, Strategic Commander, Operation Blythe (EU transition), Kent Police
• Tim Reardon, Head of EU Exit, Port of Dover.

At 1.30pm the Committee will hear from:

• Rachel Maclean MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport
• Ben Rimmington, Co-Director, Road Safety, Standards and Services, Department for Transport.

The questions the Committee is likely to ask include:

• Will the traffic management plans for the area surrounding the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel successfully deal with the reasonable worst case scenario put forward by the Government?
• How involved has the haulage industry been in drawing up those traffic management plans and has the industry’s views been listened to?
• What progress has the Government made in the testing and roll-out of the “Check an HGV” service and the related Kent Access Permit?
• How will the Kent Access Permit that drivers will require to head to the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel be enforced? In particular, how will HGVs delivering goods domestically be differentiated from vehicles headed for the Port of Dover/Eurotunnel?
• The Government is planning to use sites at Sevington, Waterbrook and Ebbsfleet as inland checking sites for various purposes, in time for 1 January 2021. Will these sites be fully operational at the end of the transition period and have the capacity to sufficiently relieve congestion at Dover?
• What facilities will be in place for drivers waiting at inland checking sites or stuck in queues on the M20?

Last week the Committee took evidence from port and Channel Tunnel operators. This session can be watched back on Parliament TV.