Brexit Traffic Management Contingency Plan
The Kent Resilience Forum (KRF) is one of 42 Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) across England. It aims to ensure that agencies and organisations plan and work together, to ensure a co-ordinated response to emergencies that could have a significant impact on communities in Kent.
Dover District Council is classed as a 'Category 1 responder' and works closely with the KRF.
With the ending of the UK-EU Transition period, there is a risk of potential disruption at the border, which may cause delays at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel.
Prolonged disruption to one or more channel crossing could have the following impacts:
- Traffic: Disruption on the major and minor road network;
- Environmental: Noise, air pollution and waste stockpiling;
- Economic: Impact on local businesses and the tourist industry;
- Medicines & consumables: Distribution of medication within NHS around the county along with supply chain and medication from outside of the UK;
- Supply chain: Businesses within Kent that supply EU countries or receive goods from EU/non-EU countries may have a delay in import and export, including food, medicines and medical consumables.
Operation Fennel Contingency Plan
The KRF has been working on a contingency plan, in partnership with the Government, to deal with potential traffic disruption at the end of the transition period on 1 January 2021.
The plan, known as 'Operation Fennel', is now available on the Kent Prepared website. Operation Fennel is an escalating series of plans to deal with the regular flow of traffic at peak times (TAP 20) along with short and long-term cross-channel service disruption (Op Brock).
The plan outlines the arrangements to ensure the M20 can be kept open to traffic and that disruption for local residents, businesses and other road users is kept to a minimum, whilst providing temporary traffic holding areas.
'Operation Fennel', which also covers driver welfare and non-freight traffic, is designed to operate at different stages, with different options being used depending on the prevailing traffic conditions.
The plans can cope with up to 7,000 HGVs, the maximum queue length of HGVs expected in Kent under the national reasonable worst-case scenario planning assumptions.
The plans also outline the Government’s web service which will be known as ‘Check an HGV is Ready to Cross the Border’. The service will be able to issue a digital Kent Access Permit to freight ready to cross the Straits before it enters Kent.
The plans have considered concurrent incidents, including Covid-19 and severe weather.
See also: Kent traffic management on M20 motorway to Dover and Eurotunnel
Information and Advice
The Kent Resilience Forum publishes information and advice to help businesses and households to 'Be Prepared' for a range of 'emergencies' - not just the end of the Transition period. For example,
- Do you have a Household Emergency Plan? Thinking in advance about potential emergencies, and how you would respond, will help you deal quickly and effectively with a stressful situation.
- Does your business have a Business Continuity Plan? The way in which a business plans for and responds to events such as fire, flooding, vandalism, loss of utilities, etc., will determine how quickly and to what level a business can recover and thrive.
Visit the Kent Prepared website now to find out what steps you can take to 'Be Prepared'.