Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to assess the effectiveness of "Operation Stack", the parking of lorries on the M20 Motorway, in the event of serious disruption at the Channel Tunnel.

The Government are taking steps to assess the effectiveness of Operation Stack and on 22 January, My Rt Hon Friend, the Minister of State for Transport, the Hon Member for South Holland and the Deepings (John Hayes) met with a number of Honourable Members from the Kent area to discuss Operation Stack in more detail. As a result, officials are:

1) working with key partners to determine the feasibility of a number of lorry parks and any new or innovative approaches to reduce the impact of Operation Stack; and

2) investigating plans for additional parking capacity being undertaken by Dover Harbour Board, Eurotunnel and other developers.