Brexit: Dozens more lorry parks to be built across England to cope with trading chaos
Up to a further 29 lorry parks will be built across England to cope with border trading chaos after Brexit, under emergency government powers.
Local residents will have no say over the construction of the sites – needed because of growing fears that truck drivers will face long delays to enter the EU, or be turned away altogether.
Some are in inland areas – Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Solihull – as well as in coastal trading hotspots including Kent, Essex, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
The move, quietly revealed after MPs left Westminster on Thursday, comes after a leaked government document described the current border preparation plans as “unmanageable”.
Haulage bosses – including the Road Haulage Association – have demanded an urgent meeting with ministers over a blizzard of new IT systems and a lack of training for promised customs agents.
The crisis looms regardless of whether the UK avoids crashing out without a trade deal, because even an agreement will end the current free-flow of goods with the EU.
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Traders fear the flow of food and vital medicines will be disrupted, even as the UK risks a second spike of Covid infections when the Brexit transition period expires on 1 January.
The regulation triggering the order acknowledges that attempts by ports to cope with the vast new red tape have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The government is aware that the impact of coronavirus may have affected the ability of port operators and businesses to provide the necessary infrastructure by the end of the year,” it reads.
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