Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum on avoiding the routine deployment of Operation Brock during school holidays.

The Kent and Medway Resilience Forum (KMRF) is operationally independent from His Majesty’s Government (HMG). The KMRF's decision to deploy Operation Brock ahead of the Easter getaway was taken after extensive discussions, taking into account previous disruption during peak periods, expected traffic levels and safety of road users.

The deployment of Operation Brock and other traffic management measures are continually kept under review by the KMRF to ensure they are designed and implemented in the most effective way possible.

The Department continues to work on new approaches to long term traffic management in Kent, considering a combination of off-road sites and technology to manage the flow of traffic to the portals during periods of high traffic volumes, keeping the strategic road network clear. We are also working on improvements in traffic forecasting using better data, AI and learning from recent experience which could mean that the use of Operation Brock on a precautionary basis could be reduced in the future.